World Team Table Tennis Championships in Guangzhou, China
Star Players
Twenty-two year old Sayaka Hirano and twenty-six year old
Michael Maze were the stars of proceedings at the Evergrande
World Team Championships in Guangzhou on Tuesday 26th February
2008; both remained unbeaten as they steered Japan and Denmark
respectively to thrilling victories.
Match of the Tournament
Sayaka Hirano beat both Moon Hyun Jung and Dang Ye Seo in
Japan’s nerve tingling three-two win over Korea in the
Women’s Team Championship Division.
It was the match of the tournament so far, with proceedings
ending in dramatic fashion. Ai Fukuhara saved one match point
against the luckless Moon Hyun Jung to secure victory in a
contest that lasted over three hours; for Korea Dang Ye Seo
beat Ai Fukuhara and Lee Eun Hee accounted for Haruna Fukuoka.
Maze and Tugwell Showed their Best against Hong Kong
Two vital wins by Sayaka Hirano secured success for the fourth
seeds, whilst wins from Michael Maze over Cheung Yuk and Li
Ching paved the way for Danish glory in the Men’s Team
Championship Division against Hong Kong. The one further victory
for the European nation came from Finn Tugwell over Li Ching
in the three-two verdict.
Success for Denmark against higher rated opposition but that
was the only notable upset of the third day’s play.
In the Men’s Team event, the top four seeded teams all
ended the day with their unbeaten records in tact.
The Favourites are still on the Right Track
Top seeds, China overwhelmed Croatia by three matches to
nil, second seeds Korea inflicted the same punishment on Sweden,
whilst third seeds Germany secured a three-one win over France
and Singapore overcame Greece without the loss of a single
individual match.
In the Women’s Team event it was the same story with
the hitherto unbeaten teams in each of the four first stage
groups facing each other.
Top seeds China underlined their status as the clear favourites
to retain the title won two years ago in Bremen, Germany by
overcoming the United Stated three-nil, whilst second seeds
Singapore did likewise against Hungary and Hong Kong repeated
the dose against Germany
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"Source:
ITTF Press Release