Montenegrin table tennis player Filip Radović will play in the quarter-finals of the Paralympic Games against Austrian Christian Gardoš, while Luka Bakić's rival in the match for the bronze medal will be Polish Patrik Čojnovski, it was decided by draw in Tokyo.
Gardoš was second in Group D with two victories and a loss to Frenchman Mateo Bohas.
"It's the opponent I've never faced in my career. The last time we were rivals was in the quarter-finals of the World Championship in Celje in 2018, in which he was more successful," Radović told the MINA agency.
He expects that the upcoming quarter-final duel will have a different outcome.
"I have improved since then and I believe in a different outcome. It is clear that it will be difficult and that I will have to play at the highest level in order to beat him and reach the semi-finals," said Radović.
Radović finished the competition in Group C as the first place winner, with maximum performance, and in the last round he defeated the Nigerian Alabi Olufemi 3:0 (11:7, 11:9 and 11:5).
Luka Bakić will have a difficult task, because Patrik Čojnovski is the best player in the world.
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Bakić reached the quarterfinals by winning the direct duel for second place against Spaniard Jose Manuel Reyes Ruiz 3:0 (11:6, 11:4 and 11:6).
"I achieved an important victory against Ruiz and made it to the quarterfinals. In the medal match, the first seed and the world's leading table tennis player in the S 10 class awaits me. It is the biggest test for me in my career so far. He is the favorite, but that does not mean that I will give up I will give my best," Bakić said.
Čojnovski is the official European and world champion, and his performance at the Games in Rio de Janeiro ended with a silver medal.
He was gold four years earlier in London.
The quarter-final matches are scheduled for tomorrow at ten hours and 20 minutes local time, that is, three hours and 20 minutes past midnight Montenegrin time.
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