China confirmed their status as the best table tennis nation on earth, after winning both the Men’s and Women’s events at the 2015 ITTF World Team Cup, which concluded today in Dubai.
North Korea put up a close battle against the defending Chinese Team in the Women’s Team event. RI Mi Gyong and RI Myong Sun pushed their opponents, LIU Shiwen and ZHU Yuling, to their limits in the both of the first 2 sets of the Teams match.
RI Mi Gyong came back from 0-2 down against LIU in the first set to tie at 2-2, but lost the 5th decider (7-11,4-11, 12-10, 11-9. 9-11) in North Korea’s first appearance in the completion since 1991. The 24 year old shared “We have great memories from here and battled hard in the final. We had chances, but we could not quite do it. We will take inspiration from this event and use it as motivation to take our team forward in the future.”
Similar for North Korean defender RI Myong Sun, who was on track to cause a major upset against world number six ZHU Yuling. However ZHU’s class told in the overcoming RI 3-2 (7-11, 11-6, 9-11, 14-12, 11-5) to the delight of the Chiin the cheers of the crowd at the Al-Nasr Sports Club.
“My match was a big battle. I had to keep my patience and take my chances. I was surprised at her level. They are now a strong challenger to China. I am very happy that I have won my first World Team Cup, and I look forward to many more titles in the future.” shared ZHU who turned 20 yesterday.
DING Ning (CHN) who was named the 2014 Female Table Tennis Star at the DUBAI 2014 ITTF Star Awards held earlier in the week added “It was a tough match, tougher than we expected. I have to congratulate my team mates for winning their crucial matches to give us a 2-0 lead before I played the doubles. It was not easy for them, so I am proud of them. This event was a good chance to give our younger players such as ZHU Yuling a chance to play on the biggest stage and they did very well. This title means a lot to us.”
Grand slam winner LI Xiaoxia (CHN) claims her 5th World Team Cup title today despite not being able to play due to her knee injury, making her by far the most successful athlete in the history of World Team Cup.
In the Men’s Finals, the Chinese Men’s Team swept Team Austria 3-0 to claim the gold medal, without dropping a single game. This is Austria’s first ever Finals appearance and the first a European team has made it to the Finals since 1995.
FAN Zhendong and ZHANG Jike overcame Daniel HABESOHN and Robert GARDOS respectively 3-0 in the opening two singles matches. FAN took the first set from HABESOHN (11-3, 11-5 , 11-8). World and Olympic Champion ZHANG Jike however, suffered a scare from Robert GARDOS when GARDOS came back from 2-8 down to level the score at 10-10 in the third game, ZHANG overcame GARDOS 11-7, 12-10, 12-10.
The dynamic duo of ZHANG Jike and XU Xin eventually ended Austria’s dream with a 3-0 (11-3, 11-7, 11-9) win over Austrian pair of Stefan FEGERL and Daniel HABESOHN.
Follow the match, a very satisfied XU Xin stated: “This victory means one more major world title for us, and of course means a lot to our team. The World Team Cup is similar to the Olympic Games in terms of the playing system, and this will probably be the last time we compete in this system before the Olympics hence this is a very valuable opportunity for us here. Austria did very well, we hope they continue to get stronger and push us harder next time.”
17 year old Youth Olympic Games Champion FAN Zhendong, who won his first World Team Cup title here added:
“We played well here in Dubai, and our results proves that our hard work and efforts have paid off well. However, we still cant let our guards down as competition is getting tougher internationally, other national teams are also training hard and getting stronger, so it’s important for us to train even harder to maintain our edge over the rest.”
The bronze medals for the Men’s Team event went to Germany and Chinese Taipei, while Singapore and Japan took home the Women’s Team bronze.
The table tennis world’s focus now turns to the start of the GAC Group 2015 World Tour, which kicks off in Hungary on 28 January 2015.
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