MX23RW : Thursday, March 26 23:56:17| >> :120:26716:26716:

Marcos Freitas: 'I didn't expect Paul Drinkhall to play so well'

Marcos Freitas hails Paul Drinkhall's performance, after the British table tennis player beat the Portuguese in the men's quarter-finals at the European Games.

Portugal table tennis star Marcos Freitas has admitted that he is in shock after his loss to Great Britain's Paul Drinkhall in the men's quarter-finals at the European Games.

The 16th seed moved through to the semi-finals with a 4-1 win, but Freitas insists that he is still the better player.

"I was the favourite for this match. I am a better player, so I was expecting to win. And I didn't think he would," he told reporters.

"It was not my best match. I started really badly, going behind 2-0, and then I had no time to recover because he was playing very well. He knew he had to take some risks to beat me, because I am a better player. He was happy, he was lucky as all the balls he hit were on the table, all the risks he took paid off.

"It was not the first time I played against him. I know he is a good player, I respect him. I lost to him before only once, which was last year in Russia. So I knew he would take some risks and play well, but I didn't think he will play this well."

Drinkhall will meet Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the last four.

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Paul Drinkhall of Great Britain competes during Men's Team Table Tennis first round match against team of Portugal on Day 7 of the London 2012 Olympic Games on August 3, 2012
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