World Team Table Tennis Championships in Guangzhou, China
Second Day – Chinese Hiccups
The host nation finished the second day of play, Monday 25th
February 2008, unbeaten in both the Men’s and Women’s
Team events at the Evergrande World Team Championships in
Guangzhou.
However, the victories recorded were not without moments
of tension with North Korea and Romania both posing questions
before succumbing to the might of the world’s table
tennis superpower.
Wang Nan and Wang Liqin Suffer One Loss Each
In the Women’s Team event Wang Nan, former Olympic
and World champion, lost to Kim Jong in the duel against North
Korea, whilst in the men’s match against Romania there
was a shock min store for Wang Liqin, the reigning World champion.
He was beaten by the powerful Andrei Filimon.
Both defeats were recorded in the opening match of the fixtures
and on both occasions, the Chinese recovered. In the female
contest Zhang Yining beat both Kim Mi Ying and Kim Yong to
pave the way for victory, whilst Li Xiaoxia accounted for
Hyon Rui Hui.
Meanwhile, in the men’s contest against Romania, Chen
Qi levelled matters by overcoming Adrian Crisan before Wang
Hao defeated Constantin Cioti and Wang Liqin showed his class
to beat a spirited Adrian Crisan.
A hiccup for the Chinese women in their opening fixture of
the day but no problems when they appeared for a second time;
the trio of Li Xiaoxia, Guo Yue and Guo Yan accounted for
the Croatians, Andreja Bakula, Cornelia Vaida and Sandra Paovic
by three matches to nil.
Success for the top seeds in the Men’s Team event and
also for the outfits seeded immediately below.
The Further Results
Korea defeated the Czech Republic, Germany overcame Serbia
and Singapore defeated Belarus.
In the Women’s event, second seeds Singapore accounted
for Chinese Taipei and Romania whilst fourth seeds Japan defeated
the Czech Republic and the Netherlands.
Hong Kong’s Women Came back against Austria
However, for the third seeds Hong Kong there were problems.
They beat Spain without due alarm but against Austria it was
a different situation; they trailed by two matches to nil
after Tie Yana had lost to Austria’s Liu Jia and Jiang
Huajun had suffered at the hands of Li Qiangbing.
Lin Ling sparked the recovery by beating Veronika Heine,
Jiang Huajun accounted for Liu Jia and Tie Yana completed
the fight back with victory over Li Qiangbing
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"Source:
ITTF Press Release