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Erke Qatar Open

Sixth Seed Falls to ITTF Pro Tour Newcomer

Singapore’s Wang Yue Gu, the number six seed in the Women’s Singles event at the Erke Qatar Open in Doha, suffered defeat in the opening round of proceedings on Thursday 20th March 2008.

She was beaten by Korea’s twenty-two year old Seok Ha Jung, a player with no world ranking, who had overcome higher rated in the qualifications stages to reserve her place in the main draw.

Seok Ha Jung played in an uninhibited manner attacking strongly from both backhand and forehand with outstanding consistency and a high level of technical excellence. The reason for the near perfect style is the she learnt her basic skills in China before moving to Korea to play in the Companies League; now the owner of a Korean passport her avowed goal is to represent her adopted country in the World Championships.

Wang Yue Gu was the highest seed to fall but there were other notable names in the Women’s Singles event who stumbled.

Eighth seed Singapore’s Li Jia Wei was beaten by Korea’s Kwak Bang Bang, ninth seed Hong Kong’s Tie Yana suffered at the hands of Li Jia Wei’s rapidly improving compatriot, Feng Tianwei, whilst twelfth seed Korea’s Kim Kyung Ah was beaten by Croatia’s Tamara Boros.

However, for the Chinese quartet of Zhang Yining, Li Xiaoxia, Guo Yue and Wang Nan second round places were duly booked, the one player to suffer any real problems being Wang Nan. She was extended the full seven games distance by Singapore’s Yu Meng Yu.

Similarly, in the Men’s Singles event the top four, all from China, progressed unhindered. There were safe passages for Wang Hao, Ma Lin, Wang Liqin and Ma Long whilst Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus, the winner the previous week in Kuwait, also booked his last sixteen place with a degree of comfort.

Safe passages for the very elite but there were casualties.

Seventh seed, Korea’s Ryu Seung Min, the reigning Olympic champion, was beaten in round two by Germany’s Christian Süss whilst in the opening round, Austria’s Werner Schlager, winner of the Men’s Singles event at the 2003 Liebherr World Championships, suffered at the hands of Korea’s Lee Jung Sam who then lost to Hong Kong’s Jiang Tianyi.

Meanwhile, in both doubles competitions the top seeded pairs all prospered.

In the Men’s Doubles top seeds, China’s Chen Qi and Ma Lin will face Korea’s Joo Se Hyuk and Lee Jung Woo in the semis whilst second seeds Wang Hao and Wang Liqin confront compatriots Ma Long and Zhang Jike.

It is a similar situation in the Women’s Doubles competition where at the penultimate round stage, number one seeds, China’s Guo Yue and Zhang Yining face colleagues Li Xiaoxia and Wang Nan whilst second seeds, Korea’s Kim Kyung Ah and Park Mi Young line up against Austria’s Liu Jia and the Czech Republic’s Iveta Vacenovska.