World Team Table Tennis Championships in Guangzhou, China
Successful Opening Day for Favourites
The top four seeds in both the Men’s and Women’s
Team event at the Evergrande World Team Championships in Guangzhou,
China came through the opening day, Sunday 24th February 2008
successfully.
In the Men’s Team event there were victories for China,
Korea, Germany and Singapore whilst in the counterpart female
event it was joy for China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan.
Chinese Teams Succeed
Both Chinese teams succeeded by three matches to nil; the
men’s trio of Ma Long, Wang Hao and Ma Lin overcoming
the Belgian team of Jean-Michel Saive, Philippe Saive and
Martin Bratanov, whilst the Women’s outfit comprising
Zhang Yining, Li Xiaoxia and Wang Nan defeated the Russians,
Svetlana Ganina, Irina Kotikhina and Oksana Fadeeva.
The only moment of concern for the Chinese was in the men’s
contest when Wang Hao arrived some five minutes late for his
match, having been surprised at the speed with which Ma Long
had won the preceding contest against Jean-Michel Saive and
the distance from the training hall to the main hall!
Two European Youngsters Put up Resistance
The men’s team comprising Gao Ning, Yang Zi and Cai
Xiao Li defeated the Danes Michael Maze, Finn Tugwell and
Kasper Sternberg whilst their Women’s team of Wang Yu
Gu, Feng Tianwei and Li Jia Wei overcame the Polish contingent
of Li Qian, Xu Jie and Natalia Partyka.
However, the Singaporean success was not without problems
and two young players in their first full year in the senior
ranks excelled; for Denmark Kasper Sternberg defeated Cai
Xiao Li whilst for Poland, Natalia Partyka beat Li Jia Wei.
Germany’s Thanks to Ovtcharov
Also, in good form was Dimitrij Ovtcharov for Germany, he
beat both Fedor Kuzmin and Alexei Smirnov in the victory over
Russia whilst for second seeds, Korea, Ryu Seung Min, the
reigning Olympic champion, was the man to excel. He defeated
both Daniel Gorak and Bartosz Such in a three-one success
over Poland.
Meanwhile, in the Women’s Team event both Hong Kong
and Japan emulated China to post three-nil wins.
The Hong Kong trio of Tie Yana, Zhang Rui and Jiang Huajun
beat the Belarus team of Viktoria Pavlovich, Veronika Pavlovich
and Tatanya Kostromina whilst the Japanese outfit comprising
Sayaka Hirano, Ai Fukuhara and Haruna Fukuoka overcame Italy’s
Nikoleta Stefanova, Laura Negrisoli and Wenling Tan Monfardini
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"Source:
ITTF Press Release