The 21-year-old Frenchman joins reigning Paralympic champion Laurens Devos in the final after his victory against Ma Lin.
Lucas Didier is just one step away from gold, which would allow him to do as well as his brother Ugo, Paralympic champion… in the La Défense Arena pool a few days earlier. As such, if sport is a family affair, it is also possible to shine in two different disciplines since Lucas Didier excels with a racket in hand and a small white ball. This Saturday morning, in a white-hot and packed Arena Paris Sud, the 21-year-old Frenchman achieved a feat by dominating the Australian Ma Lin, the world number 2 in his MS9 category (he suffers from the same pathology as his swimmer brother, namely club feet and instability in the knees).
However, two years ago, the native of Chesnay, in the Yvelines, was not far from putting his racket away for good. “If two years ago someone had told me that I would be at the Games and that I would be on the podium, I would have signed every day, but I didn’t believe it at all honestly”he confided. “I couldn’t enjoy myself at the table anymore. I was getting too caught up in the competition aspect and the stress was getting the better of everything else. I had lost sight of the essential, that everything starts with the pleasure felt. If the pleasure is there, the performance is often there too and I had to restart all that by surrounding myself with the people I love.”
Lucas Didier had a lot of fun in this semi-final, with an impressive level of play. Initially clearly dominated by his opponent (1-7), the Frenchman came close to holding up by coming back to level and getting a set point at 10-9. But Ma Lin pushed him aside before winning this first act (10-12). This did not destabilize Didier who immediately came back to level (11-9). The third set, on the other hand, marked a slight slump for the French table tennis player, dominated 11 points to 7. The following set was the most intense. Didier saw two set points slip away from him at 10-8 but the third was the right one (12-10).
Heading for a particularly undecided final set. Fortunately, the Frenchman, on cloud nine, started it with his foot to the floor to widen the gap (6-2). The Australian did not let himself be fooled and got closer (8-6) but on his second match point, Lucas Didier wrapped things up (11-8) and he was able to raise his arms as a winner, to a well-deserved ovation from the crowd. At 5pm this Saturday, he will try to dethrone the reigning champion, the Belgian Laurens Devos. With the idea of bringing home a little more gold and equalling his brother Ugo in the back of his mind. “During these Games, we felt at home”he assures. “We bicker, we tease each other, but we never talk about sport. Luckily I got that medal, otherwise I would have been jealous. It would have pissed me off to see his all the time and me, nothing.”
