The Hindu : Sport / Table Tennis : China retains men’s title; Japan wins hearts

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Sport - Table Tennis

China retains men’s title; Japan wins hearts

Rakesh Rao

— Photo: Subir Roy

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

LUCKNOW: In what will be remembered as the best advertisement for the continents brand of table tennis, China escaped the horror and embarrassment of losing to traditional rival Japan like never seen in a long, long time.

The record books will show China as a 17-time men’s team champion after retaining the title 3-2 in the 19th Asian table tennis championship here but not the way how close Japan came to hurting the pride of the eventual champion.

At the end of the day, China had the satisfaction of winning a double for the 11th time with the ladies’ team having stopped Singapore for its 13th title.

The men’s team final produced long rallies, unbelievable retrieves, amazing shot-making abilities of the players, with their superb athleticism drawing repeated applause of the players and spectators at the UP Badminton Academy hall.

Biggest upset

Surpassing all expectations, Japan took the lead twice through Kenta Matsudaira and Seiya Kishikawa, ranked 46th and 32nd in the world. If Matsudaira upset Xu Xin — preferred over three-time World champion Wang Liqin — Kishikawa pulled off the biggest upset of the championship by stunning World No. 2 Ma Long in straight sets in the third singles.

In between, Zhang Jike kept China in the match by beating Jun Mizutani. The young Japanese then held centre-stage before falling at the threshold of a historic upset.

But in what was indeed the match of the championship, Mizutani rallied from being two sets down to hold three tie-points at 10-7 in the absorbing decider. Xu Xin kept his cool to draw level. The Chinese saved another tie-point to make it 11-11 before converting this third match-point. In the deciding rubber Zhang Jike won in straight games over Mizutani.

Chinese women win

Earlier, Ding Ning helped the Chinese women overcame the surprise loss of World No. 4 Li Xiaoxia to Sun Bei Bei to complete a 3-1 victory over Singapore in what was the repeat result of the 2007 final.

Indian men seventh

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, 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.

Meanwhile, the Indian players reached the second round of singles after having bowed out of mixed doubles.

The results (team championship):

Men (final): China bt Japan 3-2 (Xu Xin lost to Kenta Matsudaira 7-11, 5-11, 11-5, 8-11; Zhang Jike bt Jun Mizutani 11-5, 11-9, 2-11, 11-8; Ma Long lost to Seiya Kishikawa 8-11, 9-11, 7-11; Xu Xin bt Mizutani 12-10, 11-9, 3-11, 6-11, 15-13; Zhang Jike bt Matsudaira 11-6, 11-9, 11-9).

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).

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