46th World Table Tennis Championships

Osaka, Japan · April 23 - May 6, 2001

Men’s Teams Quarterfinals

April 27, 2001
By Larry Hodges
Photos will go up later  

Sweden d. Austria 3-0

It was somewhat surprising that Austria played Qian Qianli in the third position instead of Kostadin Lengerov. They are ranked about the same – Lengerov is world #71, one spot ahead of Qian – but Lengerov has had good results recently. However, Qian did win the middle game against Hakansson at 10 before losing the third at 14. The fact that Sweden is playing Hakansson now is an indication that they might be using him instead of Peter Karlsson against China should they reach the final.  

As to Waldner and Persson … Waldner looked definitely bored and lethargic in his match with Chen, and seemed to put out just enough effort to win. He seems to stand up almost straight during most points. One problem Waldner has is that he likes to sidespin loop to choppers’ wide forehands – but Chen keeps counterlooping that one for a winner, often hooking it for an ace to Waldner’s forehand. But Waldner is Waldner, and he will always play down to weaker players … and come alive in the big matches when he needs to.

Persson, on the other hand, was all over the court in his battle with Schlager. Persson is a “big match” player who peaks for tournaments such as the Worlds. For example, he has lost to Schlager the last three times they have played by a combined total of 9-2 – but here he battled and won two straight close ones. In this match, led 13-7 and 18-13 in the first, and then it was 18-all. Up 20-18, Persson wins 21-19. Up 16-12, Persson pulled off an over-the-shoulder, back-to-the-table backhand counter-smash – but Schlager blocked it back for a winner. In the second game, Persson again has a big lead, this time 17-8 – and ties it up at 17-all! Nine in a row! But Persson pulls it out, 22-20. How often does a player win at 19 & 20 after leading 18-13 and 17-8? Perhaps Persson was also getting bored.

China d. Germany 3-1

Rosskopf gave Kong a good first-game battle with an exhibition of shot-making and power-looping from both sides. But Kong’s more all-around game and sheer speed caught up and made the difference. Similarly, Kong’s placement and varied tactics kept Timo Boll off balance in the fourth match. But what were doing playing a fourth match? Unless one of the Chinese lost?

Lefty Timo Boll, who is pictures as a promising junior in the new ITTF Legends book (a history of the first 75 years of the ITTF) showed his promise by pulling out two straight close ones. But the second wasn’t exactly close at first – Boll led 17-7, 19-12, and 20-16, mostly on the strength of his attack (which seemed to freeze Wang up), Wang’s inability to return serves (he kept pushing Boll’s serve into the net) and Wang’s own erratic attack. Wang then mounted an incredible comeback - helped by back to back net and edge winners at 19-14 to get to 19-16, but mostly earned through great shot-making and ball control. With the Germans and Chinese equally in disbelief, Boll barely pulled it out, 22-20. At first thought, this result might make the Chinese a bit worried about playing Wang Liqin in the team final (the possibility that they might not make it hasn’t been thought of yet except by Korea, their semifinal opponents). However, the way he played and fought and almost came back might be an indication of what he’d do from the start against a “stronger” (or at least higher world-ranked) player. Wang probably has the best overall results of anyone in the world this past year (and he’s ranked #1 in the world), and it’d be surprising if he doesn’t play in the final, despite this loss to the world #32 (but probably under-rated) Boll.

Liu Guozheng has been playing in the third post for China, and hasn’t yet lost a game. Here he defeated Peter Franz, another lefty, at 12 & 13.

Since Liu Guoliang has been struggling this past year, it is likely that, against Sweden (should they play), China will play Kong and Wang in the top two positions, and Liu Guozheng in the third position. (The “wild card” is Ma Lin.)

Belgium d. Italy 3-1

Podpinka had defeated Yang Min 2-0 the last time they'd played (in the European League in January, 2001), and so they decided to play Podpinka (world #67) instead of Philippe Saive (world #47). It almost worked, but Min managed to win against Podpinka, 19 in the third. Even more surprising was Belgium’s playing world #105 Martin Bratanov in the third position, again passing over Philippe Saive. P. Saive had lost the last time out against both Yang and Placentini - but so had Bratanov. (Over the past two years, P.Saive and Bratanov's match and game record against Min and Placentini was 0-5 and 2-10.) This time it worked out for them, with Bratanov winning an amazing 19,-19,19 match over Placentini. In the first, Bratanov was leading 19-16, but Placentini won all five on his serve to win 21-19. After Bratanov won the second, also at 19, Placentini went up 19-16 in the third, with the serve - but Bratanov, while receiving, scored five straight to win. So the two countries had split 19-in-the-thirds.

But this team match was all about Saive – Jean-Michelle, not Philippe. Jean-Michelle, ranked #12 in the world (but once #1) won both his matches. Did someone suggest to him before the match that he should lob some? Lob he did, over and over and over – and to great affect. It almost seemed like he took a game to adjust his lobbing to his opponent, as he lost the first game both times, then won easily the rest of the way. He didn’t exactly lob all the time, but every few points he seemed back there. The rest of the time he was relentlessly looping forehands – he likes to play an almost one-winged forehand looping game when he can, and he’s fast enough to do so. Due to this foot speed, even when lobbing he doesn’t just lob – he almost always find a chance to suddenly counter-attack with his forehand. More than anything else in his matches, Saive showcased his ability to move from point A to point B at foot speeds that were not thought possible (except possibly for a few Korean penholders and others like that). Saive’s lobbing was especially effective against Yang Min, who is rather short and is less consistent and powerful against them.

South Korea d. France 3-2

This was one of the most topsy-turvy matches possible. If you accept that Gatien (the French ace and 1993 world champion) is probably better than his recent ranking (down to #28), then all five matches were “upsets.”  In the first match, Gatien lost a nail-bitingly close one, 21 & 19, to Oh Sang Eun, world #26. (Gatien was seemingly behind the entire match, and always seeming to come back.) From there on, the lower ranked player won all four.

Who would have believed that the Korean ace, Kim Taek Soo, world #9, would lose both his matches (to Legout and Gatien, world #16 and 28), and that Korea would win despite this? Since the teams alternated wins and losses, and every match was an “upset,” the tide turned every match. But since the fifth match was Korea’s (since they were alternating winning/losing), the team match went to Korea, three upsets to two. Throughout it all, the crowd was chanting various chants, including “Kim Taek Soo! Kim Taek Soo!” and “Kor-E-A! Kor-E-A!” over and over. Many of the Korean crowd were Koreans living in Japan, waving a special joint Korean flag (with a picture of North and South Korea on it, as one country) who were semi-demonstrating for the two Koreas to become one.

The most spectacular of the matches was Kim vs. Gatien. Both are extremely fast and powerful, with Kim having the edge in power, Gatien in looping quicker off the bounce. There are few sights harder to believe than seeing Gatien counterlooping Kim’s incredibly powerful loop right off the bounce. He pulled off just enough of these to win at 20 and 23. Gatien was helped by an edge in the first game when he was down 19-20. However, up 21-20 in the first and at 22-all in the third, Kim forehand kill-looped from his backhand court crosscourt, and both times Gatien pulled off a down-the-line “smack” block for clean winners.

With all the discussion of Kim, it’s almost forgotten that with one star down, another rose. Oh Sang Eun won both his matches in leading Korea to victory here, while Ryu Seung Min easily took down Damien Eloi in the third position. In the fifth match, Legout jumped out to a 6-1 lead – and was then up 8-7, down 8-13 (lost six in a row) and ended up losing 21-16 despite that early lead.

One worry – rumor has it that Ryu is having arm problems.

*****

Semifinals: They will be played at 12:30 and 3:00 PM on April 28, with Sweden playing Belgium first, and then China playing Korea.

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