BUSAN – China rallied past Japan 3-2 to claim their sixth consecutive women’s title at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships on Feb 24.
In the two sides’ fifth straight final meeting in the tournament dating back to 2014, Sun Yingsha cruised past Miwa Harimoto 11-5, 11-8, 11-4 before Hina Hayata beat Chen Meng 6-11, 11-8, 11-9, 14-12 and Miu Hirano stunned Wang Yidi 11-8, 13-11, 12-10 for Japan to take a shock 2-1 lead.
Sun steadied matters by beating Hayata 11-2, 11-7, 11-6 before Chen scored six straight points to overcome Harimoto 4-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 for China to emerge victorious again for a record-extending 23rd Corbillon Cup.
France and Hong Kong shared bronze after losing to China and Japan in the semi-finals.
Earlier, China withstood huge pressure from hosts South Korea to triumph 3-2 and move one win away from achieving their 11th straight men’s title. Like the women, the men also had to recover from a 2-1 deficit and will hope to have an easier time on Feb 25 against France, who beat Chinese Taipei 3-1 to enter their first final since 1997.
Straight-game wins from world No. 1 Fan Zhendong and second-ranked Wang Chuqin over Jang Woo-jin and Lin Jong-hoon respectively in the reverse singles rescued China.
“To be able to get two wins, I’m happy because I have proven my qualities,” Fan told the Chinese media, adding that victory was important to every member of the team because of the hard work in their preparations.
Amid the loud cheers from the crowd at the packed Busan Exhibition and Convention Centre, Wang stepped up to the table first, facing off against Jang, the highest-ranked player in South Korea’s squad.
Fuelled by the home crowd’s support, the 14th-ranked Jang delivered with an 11-7, 2-11, 13-11, 11-6 win to open accounts.
Fan was next to hit the court, with the 18th-ranked Lim across the table. He went ahead 7-4 in the opening game but Lim levelled at 7-7 before Fan kept his cool to win 11-8.
China’s top-ranked paddler had a perfect record in his previous four encounters with Lim, and he gained the upper hand throughout their duel, prevailing 11-6, 11-8 in the next two games to put his side level on the scoreboard.
The two sides turned to their veterans in the third match.
South Korea’s Lee Sang-su, 33, took the first game 11-7. However, 35-year-old Olympic champion Ma Long, who had a 7-1 win-loss record in their head-to-head contests, soon evened the match at 11-4.
In a pivotal third game, after the two players tied at 10-10, Lee snatched two late points to move ahead again. But despite winning 11-6 in the fourth game to level the score once more, Ma fell 11-4 in the deciding game as the hosts gained a 2-1 advantage.
Stepping on the court again, it was a battle between the two sides’ top paddlers in Fan and Jang.
With the defending champions’ hope of forcing the decisive match-up resting on his shoulders, Fan lived up to his task, prevailing 11-6, 11-7, 12-10.
Wang then closed out China’s nail-biting victory with an 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 win against Lim.
“I’m thankful we’re still alive,” said Wang. “I made a lot of mistakes amid the rousing atmosphere for the Korean team. I will need to evaluate my performance after this match.”
Ma agreed that China felt the pressure from South Korean fans, but that his team “passed the test” by overcoming it. XINHUA
