Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals
Chinese Stars Join Compatriots
On the opening day of play at the Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand
Finals in the Olympic Stadium at the Peking University in
Beijing, China’s Ma Lin and Ma Long both succeeded in
their first round Men’s Singles matches as did the trio
of Zhang Yining, Wang Nan and Guo Yan in the counterpart female
event.
One day later, on Friday 14th December 2004, their compatriots
Wang Hao, Wang Liqin, Chen Qi, Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia also
reserved their places in the last eight.
In the Men’s Singles event Wang Hao beat Korea’s
Ryu Seung Min, Chen Qi defeated Hong Kong’s Tang Peng
and Wang Liqin ended the hopes of team mate Hao Shuai. All
three gave impressive performances as did Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia
in the Women’s Singles event. Guo Yue beat Japan’s
Ai Fukuhara whilst Li Xiaoxia ousted Singapore’s Sun
Bei Bei.
However, there was success for Singapore. Li Jia Wei inflicted
more pain on Japan by beating Haruna Fukuoka whilst Wang Yue
Gu ended the aspirations of Germany’s Wu Jiaduo.
Success for Asia and there was success for Europe; Vladimir
Samsonov of Belarus was as stylish as ever and in control
of proceedings. He defeated Hong Kong’s Li Ching in
straight games.
Wins for China in the singles events and there were also
wins for the host nation in the doubles competitions.
Chen Qi and Wang Liqin beat top seeds Singapore’s Gao
Ning and Yang Zi in the opening round of the Men’s Doubles
event, whilst Hao Shuai and Ma Long overcame Korea’s
Cho Eon Rae and Lee Jung with further sadness coming the way
of Korea as Lee Jin Kwon and Ryu Seung Min suffered at the
hands of Ma Lin and Wang Hao.
Three wins for China and one for Hong Kong; Ko Lai Chak and
Li Ching defeated Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Christian
Süss.
Defeat for the top seeds in the Men’s Doubles event
but no such problems for the highly rated female pairs. Number
one seeds, China’s Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia defeated Japan’s
Haruna Fukuoka and Mikie Tasei whilst second seeds Tie Yana
and Zhang Rui won the all-Hong Kong battle against Lau Sui
Fei and Lin Ling.
A reverse for Japan and there was a second with Ai Fukuhara
and Sayaka Hirano losing to Korea’s Kim Kyung Ah and
Park Mi Young, whilst in the one remaining Women’s Doubles
contest Singapore’s Li Jia Wei and Wang Yue Gu won a
nail-biting seven games duel against Gao Jun of the United
States and Shen Yanfei of Spain.
Meanwhile, in the Under 21 events it was decision day. Korea’s
Cho Eon Rae won the male title beating Portugal’s Tiago
Apolonia in the semis and Croatia’s Andrej Gacina in
the final whilst in the counterpart female event gold went
to Singapore’s Feng Tianwei. She defeated the Czech
Republic’s Iveta Vacenovska at the penultimate stage
and Poland’s Li Qian in the final.
At the semi-final stage Andrej Gacina had overcome Korea’s
Lee Jin Kwon whilst Li Qian had beaten Germany’s Zhenqi
Barthel.
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"Source:
ITTF Press Release