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Friday, Nov 20, 2009
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Sport - Table Tennis

Chinese women’s team retains title

Rakesh Rao

— Photo: Subir Roy

UNSTOPPABLE: The victorious Chinese women’s team strikes a pose after its triumph.

LUCKNOW: China retained the women’s team title even after spearhead and World No. 4 Li Xiaoxia suffered an unexpected defeat against Singapore in the 19th Asian table tennis championship here.

The confidence of the Chinese camp could be gauged from the fact that it entered the match by resting World No. 2 Guo Yue and still walked out triumphant by a 3-1 margin with World No. 9 Ding Ning winning both her matches.

For Singapore, which lost to China in the 2007 final, too, the biggest disappointment was the twin-defeats suffered by world No. 5 Feng Tianwei. The consolation was Sun Bei Bei’s four-game upset of Li.

In fact, once Fan Ying, ranked 19th in the world, scored her fourth victory in as many meetings with Feng in the opening singles, Singapore knew it was in serious trouble. Ding was slow off the blocks against Wang Yue Gu, ranked 11th, but got better and better.

Meanwhile, the Indian men took the seventh place ahead of a depleted Singapore. India, which has been preparing for the Commonwealth Games mainly to counter the formidable challenge of Singapore in 2010, won 3-2 with Sharath winning both his matches and Soumyadeep Roy claiming the decider in a dramatic manner after losing the first two games.

However, Singapore kept its number one Gao Ning to show that it did not give much importance to this playoff.

Though the result was good for the spectators and the confidence of Sharath and Soumyadeep, it did not matter in the eventual analysis. It only helped India climb one rung from its eighth-place finish in 2007.

The results (team championship): Men (for seventh place): India bt Singapore 3-2 (Soumyadeep Roy lost to Yang Zi 11-9, 8-11, 5-11, 3-11; Sharath Kamal bt Cao Xiali 11-9, 11-5, 11-4; Anirban Nandy lost to Pang Xuejie 11-13, 8-11, 11-7, 6-11; Sharath bt Yang Zi 7-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7; Soumyadeep bt Cai Xiaoli 8-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7).

Women (final): China bt Singapore 3-1 (Fan Ying bt Feng Tianwei 11-8, 11-4, 12-10; Ding Ning bt Wang Yue Gu 6-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-2; Li Xiaoxia lost to Sun Bei Bei 6-11, 11-6, 8-11, 8-11; Ding Ning bt Feng Tianwei 11-8, 11-8, 11-7. Men (first round, involving Indians): Anirban Nandy bt Mustafa Bilah (Ban) 111-7, 11-2, 11-2, 11-3; Aman Balgu bt Singsathid Soukathammovong (Lao) 11-4, 11-6, 11-6, 11-5. Women’s singles (first round involving Indians): Pooja Sahasrabhudhe bt Amani Khader (Jor) 11-3, 11-9, 11-3, 11-1; K. Shamini bt Lam Lai Wa (Mac) 9-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-3, 11-5; Mamta Prabhu bt Rahima Akter (Ban) 11-6, 11-4, 11-3, 11-5; Madhurika Patkar bt Sengadavieng Douangpanya (Lao) 11-8, 10-12, 11-7, 11-3, 11-4; Divya Deshpande bt Yara Saegh (Jor) 11-2, 11-5, 11-3, 11-4; Mouma Das bt Muna Basukala (Nep) 11-5, 11-8, 11-3, 11-2.

Mixed doubles (involving Indians): Second round: Sengeun Jeoung and Seok Ha Jung (Kor) bt Devesh Karia & Pooja Sarasrabhudhe 11-6, 11-6, 11-1; Cheung Yuk & Lau Sui Fei (Hkg) bt Soumyadeep Roy & Poulomi Ghatak 11-9, 11-5, 11-5; Chaisit Chaitat (Tha) bt Anirban Nandy & Madhurika Patkar 6-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-5.

Lee Jinkwon & Lee Eun Hee (Kor) bt Aman Balgu & Mamta Prabhu 11-6, 11-7, 11-5; Yuttana Tubbunmee & Suthasini Sawettabut (Tha) bt Sharath Kamal & K. Shamini 10-12, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6; Yang Song Man & Han Hye Song (DPR Kor) bt Sourav Chakraborty & Mouma Das 12-14, 11-3, 11-8, 11-6; Phuchong Sanguansin & Anisara Muangsuk (Tha) bt Zubin Kumar & Divya Deshpande 10-12, 11-2, 11-4, 11-5.

First round: Soumyadeep & Poulomi bt Grigoriy Draga & Nodira Bukhanhkodjaevea (Uzb) 11-13, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-7.

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