World Junior Championships in Palo Alto, USA
Chinese Boys 3-2 against Korea – Chinese Girls
Beat Romania
It was a hard piece of work for the boys from China before
Song Shichao could celebrate the victory over Korea. The final
of the Boys’ Team event was an equal affair but the
match turned in favour of China when Xu Ruifeng overcame Korea’s
Jung Sang Eun. The seventeen year old Korean was still unbeaten
in Palo Alto but suffered a 3-0 defeat against an impressive
Xu Ruifeng.
Young Team with Mature Skills
The boys from China deserve to be World Champions because
they always showed their best skills in the most difficult
situations. Thanks to this ability, they kept the upper hand
against France in the semi-final and against Korea in the
final.
“We have very young players”, China’s coach
Yi Li said about his team with an average of fifteen years.
“Here they get experience to handle difficult situations
during such matches.”
Key Match between Samara and Li
The Girls from China overcame the team from Romania 3-0. Romania’s
Elizabeta Samara led 2-0 against Li Xiaodan but could not
bring her team back on track. “First I was leading then
I was dying”, Samara said with a bit of gallows humour.
But what is the Chinese secret? “When you are behind
it is very important that you believe in yourself", Li
Xiaodan revealed.
China’s Girls Maintained a Tradition
The girls from China are dominant since the very first edition
of the World Junior Championships in Santiago de Chile 2003.
They won five times in a row and are still unbeaten. In Palo
Alto, they only lost one match in the quarter-final against
Japan.
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"Source:
ITTF Press Release