Chengdu (China), (Samajweekly) The Chinese men’s and women’s table tennis teams both snatched their third straight victories at the World Team Championships here on Monday.
The world’s top two players, Fan Zhendong and Ma Long eased past their rivals 3-0. Slovenian star Darko Jorgic looked for a win but fell 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9 to Wang Chuqin as his side suffered their first defeat in Group 1.
“Actually, I did not play well today and wasted some opportunities, but my team encouraged me a lot, and I did learn from my rivals’ challenge,” Wang said after beating Slovenian top-seed Jorgic.
Singapore defeated Chinese Taipei to secure their first win in Chengdu, while Japan clinched a 3-1 win over Hong Kong-China, reports Xinhua.
In the women’s section, China’s Sun Yingsha swept American Lily Zhang 14-12, 11-3, 11-8, before Chen Xingtong staged a strong comeback after losing the first set, beating Jalli Sarah 9-11, 11-2, 11-5, 11-4.
“I’m satisfied with my performance today. As the game goes on, I’m getting my touch,” Sun said.
“This was my first match, and I was a little nervous. I adjusted myself as soon as possible after losing the first set, which was very important,” said Chen.
Tokyo Olympic champion Chen Meng overpowered the 14-year-old Yishiuan Lin in straight-set 11-6, 11-2, 11-5 to secure another win for the hosts.
Chen gave the thumbs up to Lin after the match. “I can see that Lin is young, and I did not know her so much before, but I can feel through the match that she had a good touch and feeling today.”
Sixth seed Romania and seventh seed Chinese Taipei fell to Portugal and Sweden 3-2 respectively. Germany locked up a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic and finished the round robin on top of Group 5, while Hong Kong of China pulled off an impressive 3-0 win over Brazil, remaining at the top of Group 3.
