Press releases

RIO DE JANEIRO, 9 August (BelTA) – Belarusian table tennis player Vladimir Samsonov has reached the top eight of Rio 2016 after taking a 4-2 win over UK’s Paul Drinkhall in the last 16. The Belarusian will next play Dmitrij Ovtcharov from Germany, BelTA has learned.

“Of course, Dmitrij and I know each other very well. We play for one club in Germany. We know each others’ strengths and weaknesses. Each of us will play for a victory in the quarterfinal. It is the Olympics and everyone wants a medal,” the player said.

The quarterfinal will take place on 9 August.

Other quarterfinals on 9 August will feature world number one Ma Long from China against Quadri Aruna from Nigeria, Portugal’s Marcos Freitas facing Jun Mizutani from Japan, China’s Zhang Jike against Koki Niwa from Japan.