SPORTS NEWS UK WITH TRY MY SPORT

Timo Boll and Yang Zi Win Colleagues Contests

Timo Boll and Yang Zi emerged victorious in the battle of compatriots in the opening round of the Men’s Singles event at the Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals in Beijing on Thursday 13th December 2007.

In the all-German duel Timo Boll overcame Dimitrij Ovtcharov (9-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-5) whilst Yang Zi secured victory in the Singaporean duel against doubles partner Gao Ning (11-4, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5).

Success for Timo Boll and for Yang Zi in the Olympic Stadium at the Peking University and for China there was also success.

Ma Lin beat Japan’s Kan Yo (11-7, 11-9, 15-13, 12-10) whilst Ma Long ended any aspirations harboured by Chinese Taipei’s Chuan Chih Yuan recording a likewise straight games victory (11-8, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8).

Two victories for China in the opening round of the Men’s Singles event and it was the same in the Women’s Singles competition but for Zhang Yining, the World No. 1, it was a nervous time. She trailed Hong Kong’s Tie Yana by three games to one and stood level at 9-all in the fourth game before securing a seven games success.

Eventually she won 9-11, 11-9, 4-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-7.

However, for Wang Nan there were no such difficulties; she beat Japan’s Sayaka Hirano in straight games (11-8, 11-3, 11-5, 11-6).

Meanwhile, in the one remaining match in the Women’s Singles event on the opening day of play, Hong Kong’s Jiang Huajun defeated Singapore’s Feng Tianwei in five games (12-10, 11-9, 11-9, 3-11, 11-8).

Defeat for Feng Tianwei in the Women’s Singles event but there was consolation for the busiest player on the opening day of play. She finished in second place in her group behind Poland’s Li Qian in the Under 21 Women’s Singles event and thus qualified for the semi-finals.

In the counterpart group the Czech Republic’s Iveta Vacenovska and Zhenqi Barthel occupied the top two places whilst in the Under 21 Men’s Singles event the four players to emerge successful were the Korean’s Cho Eon Rae and Lee Jin Kwon plus Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia and Croatia’s Andrej Gacina.