SPORTS NEWS UK WITH TRY MY SPORT

Five Year Reign Ends

The five year reign of China’s Zhang Yining as the number one ranked female table tennis in the world, came to an end on Thursday 3rd January 2008, when she surrendered the number one spot to her nineteen year old compatriot Guo Yue.

Zhang Yining assumed the number one position in January 2003 and she has occupied that place ever since; on the New Year Rankings she drops one place to number two.

The ITTF Rankings for January 2008 have a special significance as they provide the names of the players who gain a direct entry to the singles events at the forthcoming Beijing Olympic Games. According to the regulations the top twenty players gain a direct entry and are exempt from continental and world qualification tournaments. However, only two players from any one country can qualify by this means and those in the exalted positions must have the approval of their respective National Olympic Committees. Furthermore, players must be nationals of that country and in the Olympic Games no country can field more than three players.

Therefore, several notable Chinese names will not be on duty in Beijing. Guo Yue, the reigning World champion and Zhang Yining, the reigning Olympic champion have direct qualification assured whilst Li Xiaoxia, ranked three, must play in the Asian Olympic Qualification tournament. However, for Wang Nan and Guo Yan, at the moment there is no passport to the 2008 Olympic Games. They are ranked four and five respectively on the January 2008 list with Wang Nan having been the Women’s Singles champion at the Olympic Games in 2000.

Similarly, in the Men’s Rankings it is a direct route for the top two, Wang Hao and Ma Lin. However, Wang Liqin, the reigning Men’s Singles World champion and in third place on the newly published rankings, has to compete in the Asian Olympic Qualification event; as for Ma Long and Chen Qi they must dream of 2012. Ma Long is ranked four and Chen Qi seven.

Dreams of the future but for three players it is very much dreams of the past. Croatia’s Zoran Primorac occupies a qualification place and thus maintains his record of having played in every Olympic Games since table tennis was first introduced in 1998. Furthermore, there are two other male players with the same record, Sweden’s Jörgen Persson and Belgium’s Jean-Michel Saive.

Both have eyes fixed firmly on a sixth Olympic appearance, both are locked with the same ranking points in the twentieth and final qualifying position. The proposed method of determining who should receive the direct ticket is that they should play a match prior to the European Olympic Qualification Tournament to be staged in Nantes from 2nd to 6th April 2008. The winner will receive the direct qualification place whilst the runner up will compete in the tournament in Nantes.

The male players, subject to National Olympic Committee approval, to initially gain direct entry are: Wang Hao (CHN), Ma Lin (CHN), Timo Boll (GER), Vladimir Samsonov (BLR), Ryu Seung Min (KOR), Oh Sang Eun (KOR), Gao Ning (SIN), Li Ching (HKG), Chuan Chih-Yuan (TPE), Kalinikos Kreanga (GRE), Werner Schlager (AUT), Kan Yo (JPN), Dimitrij Ovycharov (GER), Alexei Smirnov (RUS), Yang Zi (SIN), Ko Lai Chak (HKG), Zoran Primorac (HRV), Michael Maze (DEN), He Zhi Wen (ESP), Jörgen Persson (SWE) or Jean-Michel Saive (BEL).

The female players, subject to National Olympic Committee approval, to initially gain direct entry are: Guo Yue (CHN), Zhang Yining (CHN), Wang Yue Gu (SIN), Jiang Huajun (HKG), Li Jia Wei (SIN), Tie Yana (HKG), Ai Fukuhara (JPN), Kim Kyung Ah (KOR), Wu Jiaduo (GER), Sayaka Hirano (JPN), Liu Jia (AUT), Li Jiao (NED), Gao Jun (USA), Park Mi Young (KOR), Tamara Boros (HRV), Li Qian (POL), Wang Chen (USA), Krisztina Toth (HUN), Daniela Dodean (ROU), Elke Wosik (GER)