Timo Boll Paves Way for New Champion
Timo Boll, the winner of the Men’s Singles title at
the Austrian Open on the last two occasions the country has
hosted an ITTF Pro Tour tournament (2002, 2004) has withdrawn
from the Liebherr Austrian Open, scheduled to start on Wednesday
24th October 2007.
The German star has withdrawn through illness, not having
played since Sunday when he lost to China’s Chen Qi
in the semi-finals of the Men’s Singles event at the
Eurosib Russian Open The absence of Timo Boll means that a
new Men’s Singles champion will be crowned when matters
come to a conclusion on Sunday 28th October 2007; no previous
winner is competing.
It is the same scenario in the Women’s Singles event;
only in the Men’s Doubles are previous winners on duty,
Hong Kong’s Cheung Yuk and Leung Chu Yan won in 2002
whilst in 2004 their compatriots Ko Lai Chak and Li Ching
emerged as champions.
The top four seeds in the Men’s Singles event are China’s
Chen Qi, Singapore’s Gao Ning, Austria’s Werner
Schlager and Hong Kong’s Li Ching.
Meanwhile, in the Women’s Singles the seeding is headed
by world number one Zhang Yining with her Chinese national
team colleagues, Wang Nan and Guo Yan seeded three and four
respectively. Singapore’s Li Jia Wei is seeded four.
A total of 311 players (182 men, 129 women) have entered
the tournament from 38 countries.
The large entry necessitates two days of qualification matches
with the main draw commencing on Friday 26th October 2007.
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"Source:
ITTF Press Release