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Erke Qatar Open

Koreans Steal Limelight

Korea’s Kim Ga Ram and Seok Ha Jung were the players to steal the show on the first day of play, Tuesday 18th March 2008, at the Erke Qatar Open in Doha; both beat higher ranked opposition to book their places in the main draw of the Women’s Singles event.

Standing no. 451 on the current ITTF Women’s World Rankings, Kim Ga Ram beat Singapore’s Tan Paey Fern (ranked no.90) and Romania’s Elizabeta Samara (ranked no.71) to reserve her place in the second stage of proceedings.

Meanwhile, the un-ranked Seok Ha Jung defeated Chinese Taipei’s Lu Yun-Feng (ranked no.88) and Japan’s Reiko Hiura (ranked no.54) to maintain her interest in proceedings.

Success for Korea but problems for Hong Kong; Zhang Rui, the second highest ranked player in the qualification stage of the Women’s Singles event lost to Russia’s Elena Troshneva in seven games after the latter had suffered defeat at the hands of Turkey’s Hu Melek in straight games. The decision as to who progresses depends on the outcome between Zhang Rui and Hu Melek on Wednesday 19th March 2008.

Defeat for Zhang Rui but not for the other leading ladies. Croatia’s Tamara Boros defeated Russia’s Anastasia Voronova, Singapore’s Feng Tianwei also accounted for Russian opposition, beating Polina Mikhaylova whilst Wang Chen of the United States proved too strong for Turkey’s Nevin Mutlu.

One faller amongst the leading ladies but there was no hiccups amongst the men with Korea’s Kim Jung Hoon, Yoon Jae Young and Lim Jae Hyun plus Japan’s Seiya Kishikawa enjoying trouble free times.

Kim Jung Hoon beat Turkey’s Jiang Pengfei, Yoon Jae Young accounted for Anastasios Riniotis of Greece, Lim Jae Hyun overcame Hungary’s Krisztian Nagy and Seiya Kishikawa held all the aces in opposition to Saudi Arabia’s Abdulaziz Al-Abbad.

The one surprise of the day in the qualification stage of the Men’s Singles event was the victory of Gencay Menge over Chinese Taipei’s Chang Yen-Shu.

Ranked no.526 on the latest men’s world list and having lost his opening match against Abdel-Kader Salifou of France, he beat the vastly experienced man from Chinese Taipei, ranked no.75, in four straight games.