Sunday, May 25, 2003
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Table Tennis
Wang Nan, successful at Osaka in 2001 and Eindhoven in 1999, beat top seed Zhang Yining 4-3 (11-7, 11-8, 11-4, 5-11, 6-11, 8-11, 11-5). Although displaced at the top of the rankings by Zhang, who hadn't dropped a set here all week, Wang Nan's ability to come good on the big occasions proved crucial. Wang became the first woman to win three straight titles on the trot since six-time winner Angelica Rozeanu of Romania in the 1950s. This was her second gold medal after teaming up with Ma Lin to win the mixed doubles on Friday. Later in men's doubles, defending champions Wang Liqin and Yen Sen followed up their 2001 Osaka win with a 11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-5 success over compatriots Wang Hao and Kong Linghui. Earlier in the women's singles semifinals, Zhang cruised past compatriot Li Ju 11-8, 17-15, 11-4, 11-8, while Wang Nan beat Croatia's Tamara Boros 14-12, 11-8, 11-3, 11-4. Zhang, not the most generous person at Bercy this week giving away only 88 points en route to the semifinals, was in danger of dropping her first set of the championships when Ju pushed her to 17-15 in the second. Affronted it seemed by that stubborn resistance, the 24-year-old with the figures `001' on her back took the next 11-4 but then found herself 5-2 adrift in the fourth. Yet she soon shrugged off the danger, closing out the match at 11-8. The robotic Zhang, seeking her first title, greeted the result in the same way she would probably react to news that she had won the lottery — without a hint of perceptible emotion, although she did relent and produce a half smile for her coach. Next up was Boros, only the fifth European to win a World championship women's singles medal (two bronzes are handed out) in the past 30 years, against Wang, the Olympic champion. Boros, whose game is characterised by an almost impossibly high throw up on her service and heavy top spin, will have kicked herself after squandering four set points in the opening set which Wang eventually took 14-12. The Fushun-born "champion of everything", as Boros described her, then asserted control thanks to a crucial change of tactics. "I saw that Boros was blocking Wang Nan's forehand so in the third and fourth sets, I got her to changer her style of play so as not to leave her forehand open," China's coach Cai Zhen Hua explained. Europe had something to cheer about when Austrian Werner Schlager got out of jail at 3-1 down and saved four match points to beat reigning men's singles champion Wang Liqin 4-3 in an epic men's quarterfinal. "Everything is possible now," beamed the sixth seeded Schlager, whose reward was a semifinal against Olympic champion Kong Linghui. With the crowd rooting for him, the Austrian sixth seed pulled back to 3-2, adding the fifth set too, saving those four match points along the way. After all his hard work he was not about to let his prey go and he duly took the sixth set for a memorable success. Qiu Yike, who made his mark this week when he beat German top seed Timo Boll, finally met his match in the guise of Kong Linghui who stands between Schlager and Sunday's final. AFP
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