Furthermore, judging by his results at the start of the year in late January and early February, he was a rank outsider.

The no.6 seed, at the ITTF World Tour Hungarian Open he experienced a first round defeat at the hands of China’s Wang Chuqin; one week later at the CCB 2019 Europe Top 16 Cup in Montreux it was the same fate. The no.2 seed, he was beaten by Panagiotis Gionis of Greece.

Neither could be considered major disasters; Wang Chuqin finished the tournament in runners up spot, Panagiotis Gionis is now one of the world’s most experienced players and being a defender with a lethal forehand topspin, different from the norm.

Looking ahead, the Liebherr World Championships just over two months distant, the results were hardly confidence boosting.

Times changed

However, in late March, times changed. At the ITTF Challenge Plus Oman Open, the top seed, he reached the final. Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju ended title hopes.

Undoubtedly a fine effort, at the immediately ensuing ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open; the semi-final finish was an even better performance. Notably, he upset the status quo; the no.12 seed at the quarter-final stage he ousted Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto, the no.3 seed.

One round later, China’s Lin Gaoyuan ended progress but the results experienced in March had made those in January and February a distant memory.

Draw wide open

Playing confidently, at the Liebherr World Championships, Mattias Falck beat Hungary’s Adam Szudi, Austria’s Robert Gardos and Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia; the stage by which that part of the draw had become wide open.

In round three, China’s Xu Xin, the no.2 seed, had lost to Frenchman Simon Gauzy; Germany’s Timo Boll, after beating Japan’s Masataka Morizono, was forced to withdraw through illness.

A major opportunity was presented; in the fourth round Mattias Falck beat Korea Republic’s Lee Sangsu, before ending the hopes of Simon Gauzy. Incredibly, Mattias Falck had reached the semi-final stage beating only one higher rated player on the journey; that being Lee Sangsu, the no.6 seed. The situation pays no discredit at all to Mattias Falck, you can only beat the player at the other end of the table and on each occasion he had ousted most creditable adversaries.

Semi-final favourite

Quite incredibly at the semi-final stage Mattias Falck was the favourite; he faced An Jaehyun, named at no.152 on the men’s world rankings and of the Korea Republic players on that list, the tenth highest!

He had gained the last place in his nation’s team. The question was raised, when had players with such rankings or similar contested a World Championships men’s singles semi-final?

Simply being selected to compete in Budapest, for An Jaeyhun Christmas and birthday celebration had come early; he was born on Saturday 25th December 1999.

Furthermore, he more than justified his worth. In round four he had beaten Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto, the no.4 seed; in the quarter-finals, he had ousted colleague Jang Woojin, the no.10 seed.

Admirable response

Outstanding from An Jaehyun but great credit to Mattias Falck, whatever the seeding may have read, the semi-final duel was in the balance, he responded.

Guided by Jörgen Persson, who had experienced both the disappointment of defeat in a men’s singles world final in 1989 and elation of success in 1991, nothing should detract from efforts and performance of Mattias Falck.

Runner up spot for Mattias Falck, he defied the odds and defied the odds in another aspect.

Style of play

He uses short pimpled rubber on the forehand; accepted in 1999 in Eindhoven using that surface, China’s Liu Guoliang became world champion but to find a shake-hands grip player who reached the men’s singles final at a World Championships using short pimpled rubber on the forehand in any guise, we must go back 60 years!

In 1959 in Dortmund, Hungary’s Ferenc Sido, using a pimpled rubber racket that did not possess a layer of sponge as in the modern day era, experienced defeat in the title deciding contest at the hands of Rong Guotuan, the first ever Chinese world champion in any sport. It was the end of one era, the start of another.

At the Liebherr World Championships, Mattias Falck followed in the footsteps on great names; also he departed in the memory of another legendary player. Awarded by the Swaythling Club International, he received the Richard Bergmann Fair Play Award.