Saturday, May 24, 2003
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Table Tennis
China's Ma Lin (left) and Wang Nan celebrate after winning the mixed doubles crown in the World table tennis championship in Paris on Friday.
Watched on television by an estimated 300 million fans back home, they beat compatriots Liu Guozheng and Bai Yang 4-3 (9-11, 10-12, 11-0, 11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8) in front of a sold-out Bercy arena. World number one, Zhang Yining was one of five Chinese players to win through to the women's singles quarterfinals brushing aside the challenge of Lu Yen-Feng. Zhang, who took over from Wang Nan at the top of the rankings in January, came through her latest test in four superbly executed sets, dropping just 14 points against the girl from Taiwan in the 18 minute rout. Europe's admittedly slim hopes of its first woman's singles gold since 1955 rest with Croatia's Tamara Boros, who got the better of Romanian Otilia Badescu, after Belarussian Viktoria Pavlovich fell to China's third seed Niu Jianfeng. Japan's Ai Fukuhara, who first started playing at the age of three, continues to woo the Paris public, beating Korea's Lee Eun-Sil 4-2 in her fourth round tie. Fukuhara's angelic demeanour belies a ruthless will to win as evidenced when she served out the second set with a rare ace. Lee took the third and fourth sets but the high school student at the other end of the table, who conceded to feeling a shade nervous before her first championships, won the next 11/6 to send Lee packing. Boros, whose trademark high service almost reaches the Bercy rafters, has a quarterfinal date later against Chang Jun Gao, a Chinese export to the United States who handed out a 4-0 drubbing to Korea's Kim Kyung-Ah. Pavlovich, wearing a skirt, which is only worth a mention as this is seemingly a new phenomenon in the masculine- influenced world of table tennis attire, dwarfed Niu in terms of physical stature but it was the Asian who held fort at the table. Pavlovich won the first set but it was all downhill from then on as Niu's attacking play broke down her defence. Niu's next opponent is Chinese 11th seed Li Ju, who beat Tie Yana of Hong Kong 4-1. China's Guo Yue, who turns 15 in July, has made a splash at the championships, the sport's youngest holder of a professional title owing her presence in the quarterfinals to a 4-0 win over Korean Suk Eun-Mi. Waiting for her in the next round is Chinese number two Wang Nan.
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