Salwa Cup Kuwait Open
World Champion Suffers at French Hands
Thirty-four year old Frenchman, Christophe Legout, caused
the major shock on the second day of play, Friday 14th March
2008, at the Salwa Cup Kuwait Open when in the second round
of the Men’s Singles event he beat China’s Wang
Liqin, the reigning World champion.
Christophe Legout, currently standing at no. 62 on the ITTF
Men’s World Rankings, beat the man who occupies the
no.3 spot in a seven game thriller.
The Frenchman won 11-9, 6-11, 4-11, 16-14, 2-11, 11-6, 11-5.
It was to some extent déjà vu for Christophe
Legout; in 1997 he had beaten Wang Liqin in the semi-finals
en route to winning the Men’s Singles crown at the French
Open.
The Frenchman is now approaching the twilight of his career
and uppermost in his mind is the Beijing Olympic Games in
August 2008. He turned down the chance to represent France
in the recent Evergrande Real Estate World Championships in
Guangzhou China, preferring to concentrate his efforts on
gaining a place in the Beijing Olympic Games by succeeding
at the forthcoming European Olympic Qualification tournament
in Nantes.
Defeat for the three times World champion but no great problems
for his Chinese national team colleagues.
Top seed, Wang Hao booked his place in round three with victory
over Trinko Keen of the Netherlands, second Ma Lin ended local
hopes with a round two win over Ibrahim Al-Hasan whilst fourth
seed, Ma Long, halted the progress of Singapore’s Yang
Zi.
Meanwhile, in the Women’s Singles event the top four
seeds, all from China, duly reached the round of the last
sixteen without hindrance.
Seeded one Zhang Yining reserved her place by defeating Russia’s
Svetlana Ganina, second seed Li Xiaoxia also overcame Russian
opposition, she defeated Yulia Prokhorova whilst third seed
Guo Yue accounted for Viktoria Pavlovich of Belarus and fourth
seed, Wang Nan, stopped the advance of Korea’s Lee Eun
Hee.
Success for China and the Women’s Singles event is
very much an endorsement of the Chinese school of coaching;
of the sixteen players remaining only one did not learn her
trade in the world’s most populous country.
The interloper is the Korean defender Park Mi Young; she
booked her place in the round of the last sixteen with victory
over Croatia’s Tamara Boros.
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"Source:
ITTF Press Release