Ex-World and Olympic Champions meet

Qatar Open Draws

Tuesday, March 5, 2002

ITTF Press Release

Doha, Qatar, 5 March 2002. The draw for the seeded players in men’s singles at the Qatar Open indicated a match between to players who are both World Champions and Olympic Gold Medallists – together.

The two Chinese WANG Liqin and YAN Sen both have to beat a player coming from the qualification but then they’ll have to face each other in the 2nd round.

The same problem is the case for two Korean compatriots RYU Seung Min and KIM Taek Soo. They will also meet in 2nd round.

A repetition of the World Championships final could be the case if both WANG Liqin and KONG Linghui survive the first rounds. They are set to meet in the quarter finals and the winner is set to meet nr. 3 in the World Vladimir SAMSONOV. However everybody knows that a lot can happen in the early rounds.

Last year’s winner Zoran PRIMORAC will certainly have a more difficult time this year due to the extremely strong entry with 17 of the World’s top 20 players participating in Doha. The Croatian is set to meet nr. 4 in the World CHIANG Peng-Lung (TPE) already in the 3rd round.

In women’s singles the two Chinese WANG Nan and ZHANG Yining are top seeded. WANG Nan is set to meet RYU Ji Hye (KOR) in the semis, but before that the Chinese World Champion has to overcome players like the winner of last years Brazilian Open Aya UMEMURA (JPN) and compatriot NIU Jianfeng who also have several Pro Tour titles in her bag.

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Ex-World and Olympic Champions meet

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