Salwa Cup Kuwait Open
Top Two World Ranked Stars Suffer Defeat in Kuwait
China’s Wang Hao and Ma Lin, the players who currently
occupy the number and two ranked positions on the ITTF Men’s
World Ranking list, suffered defeat in the Men’s Singles
event at the Salwa Cup Kuwait Open on Saturday 15th March
2008.
The first to depart was Ma Lin, in a tense seven games third
round duel he was beaten by the outstanding defensive skills
of Korea’s Joo Se Hyuk, whilst one round later, at the
quarter-final stage, Wang Hao departed, overcome by Vladimir
Samsonov.
It was the first time in eleven meetings that the man from
Belarus, three times European champion, had secured victory
over Wang Hao.
The two defeats meant that the top three seeded players in
the Men’s Singles event had all failed to reach the
semi-finals; one day earlier, third seed, Wang Liqin, also
from China, had lost to Christophe Legout of France.
Defeats for the three top seeds but not for the defending
champion Ma Long nor for his Chinese national team colleague,
Chen Qi; both negotiated the quarter-finals successfully.
Ma Long overpowered Austria’s Chen Weixing whilst Chen
Qi ended the exploits of Joo Se Hyuk; at the semi-final stage
Vladimir Samsonov meets Ma Long whilst Chen Qi confronts Korea’s
Yoon Jae Young who exceeded expectations. He beat compatriot
Ryu Seung Min, the reigning Olympic champion in round three
and Denmark’s Michael Maze in the quarters.
Unexpected reverses in the Men’s Singles event but
not in the counterpart female competition where the top four
seeds, all from China, secured quarter-final victories.
Top seed Zhang Yining beat colleague, Guo Yan whilst second
seed, Li Xiaoxia ended the progress of Singapore’s Feng
Tianwei; both matches were resolved in straight games as was
the duel between fourth seed, Wang Nan and her sixteen year
old compatriot Liu Shiwen.
Meanwhile, for third seed, Guo Yue life was even easier.
She received a walk-over against Singapore’s Wang Yue
Gu, who had suffered a back injury and was in considerable
pain after her close third round win over Germany’s
Wu Jiaduo.
Success for Wang Nan and Zhang Yining in the Women’s
Singles and there was also in the Women’s Doubles, where
they overcame compatriots, Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia in the semi-finals.
In the final they meet Singapore’s Li Jia Wei and Sun
Bei Bei who defeated Russia’s Svetlana Ganina and Viktoria
Pavlovich of Belarus at the penultimate stage.
One Chinese pair through to the final of the Women’s
Doubles whilst for the men it is an all-Chinese final; at
the penultimate stage Ma Lin and Wang Hao defeated Ma Long
and Wang Liqin whilst Chen Qi and Zhang Jike overcame Korea’s
Lee Jin Kwon and Lee Jung Sam.
In the two events to be decided on Saturday 15th March 2007,
Singapore’s Liu Zhong Ze clinched the Under 21 Men’s
Singles crown overcoming the Czech Republic’s Lubomir
Jancarik in the final whilst in the counterpart female event
success went to Romania’s Daniela Dodean. In the final
she accounted for Turkey’s Hu Melek
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"Source:
ITTF Press Release