WTTC 2008: Chinese Hiccups on Second Day

World Team Table Tennis Championships in Guangzhou, China

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

The host nation finished the second day of play, Monday 25th February 2008, unbeaten in both the Men’s and Women’s Team events at the Evergrande World Team Championships in Guangzhou.

However, the victories recorded were not without moments of tension with North Korea and Romania both posing questions before succumbing to the might of the world’s table tennis superpower.

Wang Nan and Wang Liqin Suffer One Loss Each

In the Women’s Team event Wang Nan, former Olympic and World champion, lost to Kim Jong in the duel against North Korea, whilst in the men’s match against Romania there was a shock min store for Wang Liqin, the reigning World champion. He was beaten by the powerful Andrei Filimon.

Both defeats were recorded in the opening match of the fixtures and on both occasions, the Chinese recovered. In the female contest Zhang Yining beat both Kim Mi Ying and Kim Yong to pave the way for victory, whilst Li Xiaoxia accounted for Hyon Rui Hui.

Meanwhile, in the men’s contest against Romania, Chen Qi levelled matters by overcoming Adrian Crisan before Wang Hao defeated Constantin Cioti and Wang Liqin showed his class to beat a spirited Adrian Crisan.

A hiccup for the Chinese women in their opening fixture of the day but no problems when they appeared for a second time; the trio of Li Xiaoxia, Guo Yue and Guo Yan accounted for the Croatians, Andreja Bakula, Cornelia Vaida and Sandra Paovic by three matches to nil.

Success for the top seeds in the Men’s Team event and also for the outfits seeded immediately below.

The Further Results

Korea defeated the Czech Republic, Germany overcame Serbia and Singapore defeated Belarus.

In the Women’s event, second seeds Singapore accounted for Chinese Taipei and Romania whilst fourth seeds Japan defeated the Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

Hong Kong’s Women Came back against Austria

However, for the third seeds Hong Kong there were problems. They beat Spain without due alarm but against Austria it was a different situation; they trailed by two matches to nil after Tie Yana had lost to Austria’s Liu Jia and Jiang Huajun had suffered at the hands of Li Qiangbing.

Lin Ling sparked the recovery by beating Veronika Heine, Jiang Huajun accounted for Liu Jia and Tie Yana completed the fight back with victory over Li Qiangbing.

- ITTF Press Release

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WTTC 2008: Chinese Hiccups on Second Day

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