Feng Tianwei Breaks Chinese Winning Streak To Claim First Ever Asian Cup Gold

Singapore’s FENG Tianwei made history on 15 March 2015, as she upset the top seed, LIU Shiwen (CHN) at the GAC Group 2015 Asian Cup held from 13 – 15 March 2015 in the Indian city of Jaipur.

The GAC Group 2015 Asian Cup is the continental qualification for the Men’s & Women’s World Cups later in the year, with the top three placed players gaining direct entry to the prestigious events.

In the Women’s Singles gold medal match, FENG overcame world number three LIU 4-2 (8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 11-1, 12-10) to claim her first ever Asian Cup gold, breaking China’s streak of eight consecutive gold in the Women’s Singles category.

Earlier in the group stage, 28 year old FENG also defeated the other Chinese female player in action, ZHU Yuling, in 3 straight games (11-7, 11-5, 11-5), which is her first win in nine encounters with ZHU on the international arena.

After her triumph against the world number three in the final hurdle, an excited FENG shared “I never thought I would win! In the sixth game I knew I had a chance, I wanted to win so much, I was so nervous!”

In a tense final against compatriot FAN Zhendong (CHN), World number 2 XU Xin (CHN) came back from 1-3 deficit to win 4-3 (11-8, 11-13, 11-13, 5-11, 11-8,11-4, 11-7, taking his third Asian Cup Men’s Singles crown.

Despite winning in the 7-games thriller against the reigning Youth Olympic Champion, XU stated, ‘I won the first game quite comfortably, and I believed that I could win. However, I made some mistakes during the match and lost the next three games. After losing the fourth game, I tried to stay calm.”

Feng Tianwei made history by winning the Asian Cup in India.

“FAN Zhendong played well, he was very positive. It was just as hard today as two years ago in Hong Kong” added the 25-year-old.

In the bronze medal match, Japan’s Jun MIZUTANI & China’s ZHU Yuling secured the third ticket to the Men’s & Women’s World Cups respectively. MIZUTANI had accounted for TANG Peng (HKG) 4-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8), while ZHU defeating Ai FUKUHARA (JPN) 4-1 (11-8, 7-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-9), to gain direct qualification from the Asian Cup.

With the conclusion of the GAC Group 2015 Asian Cup, all eyes now turn to the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour German Open that starts 18 March in Bremen, Germany.

Qualifications for ITTF Men’s & Women’s World Cups:

NN Table Tennis Club 2015 ITTF-Europe Top 16 Cup: Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER), Marcos FREITAS (POR), Panagiotis GIONIS (GRE), LIU Jia (AUT), Petrissa SOLJA (GER), Irene IVANCAN (GER)
GAC Group 2015 Asian Cup: XU Xin (CHN), FAN Zhendong (CHN), Jun MIZUTANI (JPN), FENG Tianwei (SIN), LIU Shiwen (CHN), ZHU Yuling (CHN)

Ovtcharov & Liu strike gold in Baku to qualify for ITTF World Cups

ITTF

Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER) and LIU Jia (AUT) have qualified for the 2015 ITTF Men’s & Women’s World Cups by striking gold at the NN Table Tennis Club 2015 ITTF-Europe Top 16 Cup held in Baku, Azerbaijan from 6 – 8 February 2015.

The NN Table Tennis Club 2015 ITTF-Europe Top 16 Cup is the European continental qualifications for the Men’s & Women’s World Cups later in the year, with the top three placed players gaining direct qualification to the prestigious events.

In a tense final against Marcos FREITAS (POR), OVTCHAROV recovered from 3-1 deficit to overcome the defending champion in a 7-games thriller (10-12, 11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-4).

After his victory, the top seeded German shared “Actually I was not playing badly, I was in the lead in the first game, but when I lost it, it gave advantage to Marcos. He played very well today, and I had to give my best.”

Dimitrij Ovtcharov & Liu Jia have qualified for the ITTF World Cups!

“It was especially difficult in the final after the tough semifinal against Panagiotis. After that tense semifinal match, the main task for me was to calm down and to prepare myself for the final” added the 26-year-old who won his semifinal against Panagiotis GIONIS (GRE) by the slightest margins.

For the Women’s gold medal match, surprise finalist Petrissa SOLJA (GER) could not repeat the success of her male counterpart, losing to the defending champion, LIU Jia (AUT) in 5 games (3-11, 14-12, 8-11, 3-11, 9-11).

The top seeded Austrian had an error-free performance in the final and joked that she had played like a machine. “I think Petrissa was a little bit nervous, and on the other hand, I played one of my best matches here.”

Other than OVTCHAROV & LIU, Marcos FREITAS (POR) and Panagiotis GIONIS (GRE), as well as Petrissa SOLJA (GER) and Irene IVANCAN (GER), who took the second and third places in the Men’s & Women’s Singles respectively, have also gained direct qualifications to the 2015 ITTF Men’s & Women’s World Cups.

With the NN Table Tennis Club 2015 ITTF-Europe Top 16 Cup concluded, all eyes now turn to the first Super Series of the US$3,000,000 GAC Group 2015 World Tour in Kuwait, which starts on 11 Feb 2015.

Quadri, Offiong get foes at ITTF World Tour in Spain

Four Nigerian players including Portugal-based Aruna Quadri and Edem Offiong will begin their campaigns on Wednesday at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF)-sanctioned World Tour tagged Spanish Open.

Being the fourth ITTF World Tour for Quadri, while Offiong is making her first appearance in the tournament as part of her build up to this month’s World Championship in Japan.

Other Nigerian players taking part in the five-day championship include Kazeem Makanjuola and Ganiyat Olatunde-Aruna.

In the draw released by the organisers on Tuesday, Quadri has been drawn in Group 10 of the preliminary round alongside Spain’s Carlos Franco and Jersey’s Joshua Band, while Offiong has been pitched against Russia’s Yulia Prokhova and England’s Hannah Kicks in Group seven of the women’s singles.

Makanjuola, who is yet to win a match at some of the tours attended so far will tackle Spain’s Alfredo Carneros and Venezuela’s Nelson Villanueva in Group 13 of the men’s singles event.

Olatunde-Aruna, who is making her second appearance in the ITTF World Tour will confront India’s Shanim Kunaresan, Bulgaria’s Kutsiaryna and Spain’s Elena Lopez for a place in the main draw of the women’s singles.

Aside the singles event, the players will also compete in the preliminary stage of the doubles event on Thursday.

Quadri’s first group match will be against Jersey’s Band on table one on Wednesday, while Makanjuola will also be in action against Venezuela’s Villanueva on table three.

Quadri and Makanjuola will play their last group match on Thursday to know their fate in the singles event before turning to the doubles event.

Quadri, who arrived Almeria city, venue of the competition on Monday said he was sure of making to the main draw having narrowly missed out from playing in the last 64 at the Kuwait, Qatar and German Opens.

“I think I need to raise my game in Spain because my Spanish opponent is a familiar foes I played against during the European Table Tennis Union Championship recently. I won 3-2 and I hope to repeat same feat in Spain on Wednesday,” Quadri said.

Meanwhile, Austria’s Liu Jia, the number two seed is the most successful player in the history of the ITTF World Tour on duty in the women singles event of the 2014 ITTF World Tour Spanish Open.

Jia has also four ITTF World Tour Women’s Singles titles to her name; she won in Rio de Janeiro in 2004, in Berlin in 2008 and in Olomouc in 2012; more pertinently she has been in outstanding form in 2014.

In addition to winning the Women’s Singles event at the DHS Europe Cup in Lausanne, on the ITTF World Tour she succeeded in the Hungarian city of Szombathely, before being the runner up in Doha.

Sayaka Hirano and Jia are two of four players, who will be in action in Almeria who have clinched ITTF World Tour Women’s Singles titles.

The two further names are Sayaka Hirano’s colleague, Yuka Ishigaki, she won in Cairo in 2010 and the most recent winner of all, Germany’s Shan Xiaona who won on Sunday 30th March in Magdeburg.

Over $100,000 will be at stake at the tournament, which is one of the major competitions in the ITTF World Tour.