27th May 2007
By Malcolm Macfarlane
The
semi finals in the morning only served to set up the complete set of
Chinese dominance at the Liebherr World
Table Tennis Championships in Zagreb,
5 Gold medals, 5 Silver medals. The last non Chinese opponents were dispatched
in the semi finals.
In the Women’s
Doubles, Wang Nan and Zhang Yining of China were
far to strong for Li Jia Wei and Wang Gue Gu of Singapore winning
by 4 sets to 1. in the bottom half the singles finalists
Gou Yue and Li Xiaoxia
from China
had to work a little harder to beat the Korean defensive duo of Kim Kung Ah
and Park Mi Jung, but they succeeded 4 sets to 2.
In the Men’s
Singles Semis the top half was all Chinese and no 1 seed Ma Lin was just
that bit stronger than Wang Hao running out a 4
set to 2 winner. The last Non Chinese opponent
left was Ryu Seung Min
of Korea
who had to face the No 2 seed Wang Liqin. Ryu started well taking the first set but the next two
went for Wang Liqin, a tight fourth set went to
the Korean and the next two were shared. In the seventh set Wang Liqin really pulled out his most powerful game to take
it 11-7.
The Women’s
Doubles final was all one way traffic, The Senior partners Wang Yan and Zhang Yining seemed
determined to put the Junior pair, Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia, in their
place. Four straight sets and the many times champions Wang Nan and Yhang Yuning were World Table
Tennis Women’s Doubles champions for the third successive time and for Guo Yue it was the third
successive silver medal with two different partners - her time will come in
the doubles as it has in the singles.
Last
match of this years championships, Ma Lin of China - no 1 seed, and World
No 1 against Wang Liqin of China - the no 2 Seed
and World No 2, in a see saw battle it looked that Ma Lin's speed and large
forehand would outmanoeuvre Wang Liqin's even
larger forehand but although Ma Lin took a 3-1 advantage it was soon pulled
back to 3-3. All to play for in a final set, Wang Liqin
took an early 5-2 advantage and carried on with some unbelievable forehand
driving to lead 10-6.
One chance was all that was needed as a deep backhand to the corner evaded
Ma Lin on the next point. Wang Liqin was World
Champion again, for the third time, having won in 2001, 2005 and now in
2007.
Results
Women’s Doubles
Semi Finals
WANG
Nan/ZHANG Yining CHN beat
LI Jia Wei/WANG Yue
Gu SIN 11-1,11-9,7-11,11-8,11-9
GUO Yue / LI Xiaoxia beat
KIM Kyung Ah/PARK Mi Young
KOR 11-4,10-12,12-10,5-11,7-11,3-11
Final
WANG
Nan/ZHANG Yining CHN beat
GUO Yue / LI Xiaoxia
11-5,11-6,13-11,11-9
Men’s Singles
Semi Finals
MA Lin
(CHN) beat WANG Hao (CHN) 6-11, 11-9,
12-10, 4-11, 11-9, 11-6
WANG Liqin (CHN) beat RYU Seung
Min (KOR) 6-11, 11-3, 11-7, 14-16, 11-6, 10-12, 11-7
Final
MA Lin
(CHN) lost to WANG Liqin (CHN)
11-4,11-8,5-11,11-4,9-11,8-11,6-11
(photo courtesy of the ITTF)
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