46th
World Table
Tennis Championships46th
World Table
Tennis ChampionshipsOsaka, Japan · April 23 - May 6, 2001
By Tim Boggan, ITTF and USATT Media
The World Women’s Team event
was won, as expected, by China over North Korea, 3-0. In posting their 13th
Corbillon Cup victory in the last 14 Championships, China continues its
modern-day record of having given up their perennial title only once—to a
combined North and South Korean team in Chiba, Japan ten years ago. This 1991
“unification” was unique, for though the same pooling of talent had been
talked about for these 2001 Osaka Championships, it didn’t happen. Perhaps the
North Koreans felt they could do better on their own? Many would say they were
right to think so—for they eliminated the South Koreans in a best-behavior,
relations-improving, 5-match tie in the semi’s.
Although in their last Cup
quest, these same North Korean players lost to Romania 3-2, and so finished in a
tie for 9th, here in Osaka it was the spectators’ and the ITTF’s
marketing hope that they could provide at least some competition for the near
invincible Chinese.
“Elegant, Efficient and
Extremely Effective” was the title of Italian journalist Gennaro Bozza’s
recent “Table Tennis Illustrated” article describing the present World and
Olympic Champion Wang Nan. And in the first match of this tie--against the
DPR’s World #68 Kim Hying Mi--the 22-year-old Chinese lived up to the
alliterative superlatives.
Kim did score the opening
point—but there would not be many more squeals of delight in her losing 15, 10
match. However, the Korean drums continued to beat, the theatrical gongs and
clangs continued to sound. Three kinds of Korean flags—North, South, and the
serene blue-on-white of the Korean peninsula agreed on by both countries—were
repeatedly raised in a large Korean-spectator section (large because it’s said
that 300,000 Koreans live in the Osaka area). No rainbow-colors as in Kuala
Lumpur in this rabid partisan group though, rather white shirts matching the
small white flags that fluttered furiously whenever the occasion demanded.
When
Wang, angling in topspin winners from both sides, had won the 1st
game and was up 10-3 in the 2nd, only a few isolated cries of
encouragement and/or advice could be heard. Still, down 18-7, Kim, jogging to
retrieve a wayward ball, then coming back to serve, was as intently focused as
if the score were 8-7 in the 3rd. But dedication and determination
are not always enough. China 1—North Korea 0.
Next
up: the latest pro Tour Champion, World #3, Zhang Yining vs. Kim Hyon Hui,
formerly World # 40, now World #19. In the last Corbillon Cup Championships,
Zhang played close games, won or lost them, against at least 1-2-3-4-5-6
opponents. So perhaps it’s no surprise that she begins here by serving off. A
portent of things to come? When she’s down 8-6, a pocket of Chinese
enthusiasts unfold a colorful banner of their own, and to 5-star beat-time chant
harmoniously, “CHINA!…CHINA!”
It’s
11-9 Kim when Zhang might be said to take a cue from this World’s Opening
Ceremony theme song—from the line, “My life is the ball! (A whiff).” (At
first the line is puzzling to me. Had it the meaning of a haiku—a poetic
expression of the brevity of human life, of earth’s life? But when the chorus
sings the line, and then each singer gently blows, as a player might on the
ball, ah, there’s the whiff.) The cue as it were Zhang took was, remarkably,
to whiff three balls and so drop to 16-12. From 19-15 down she tried to rally.
Her backhand had been failing her, so forget that--with her somewhat unorthodox
stretched-out forehand she socked in two winners. But that wasn’t enough, not
even when Kim gave her a last-minute chance at 20-17 by serving into the net.
In
the 2nd game, Zhang has more control of her backhand and can better
contain the quick-thrusting in-over-the-table play of the intense Korean.
Although many of the topspin exchanges are thrilling to the eye, Kim, after
assuming her serve position, invariably takes a very long time to get the ball
off. Why? It’s more her natural rhythm than any attempt to “stall,” to
hope that her very experienced 19-year-old opponent, World runner-up at
Eindhoven, could be intimidated? From 13-all in the 2nd, Zhang pulls
away, for often Kim can’t stop the Chinese’s winning serve and forehand
follow. So, 18 games are traded off.
In
the 3rd, Zhang’s backhands are going in. In backhand lifting the
ball to open the point, she herself gives the illusion of hopping forward. But
her perfectly anticipated, angular counter-kills are fast-moving smooth. Up 13-7
she has no need to show what her coach Li Jun has praised her for—her extreme
calm, the fact that she doesn’t panic (as if any Chinese in this Championship
position would). China 2—North Korea 0.
The
final match, with the U.S.’s Tom Miller as Umpire, pits Li Ju, World #2 and
World Doubles Champion with Wang Nan, against Tu Jong Sil, World #76 and winner
of the ’99 Pyongyang International tournament that in the quarter’s featured
1 Chinese and 7 North Koreans. Unlike her compatriots, this lefty attacker
favors a high-toss serve (which once she threw up so high backward it almost got
away from her). Backhand to backhand exchanges sometimes seemed to force Li
defensively back, and also she “carried” some of her forehands long. First
game to the Korean. But can she win two?
In
the 2nd, Li starts strong, has a 4-0 lead, but Tu quickly catches
her, and the game is 12-12 close. Then the Chinese errs, Tu moves ahead to
16-13, and Li calls Time. A barrage of long loops and short snaps brings Li
close, but a Korean forehand whirls in, and Tu is 18-16 up. Li hurtles in a
backhand, then ties it up by swatting Tu’ s serve by her. At 18-all Li places
a perfect return of serve to Tu’s far forehand, only to see the Korean
stretch-return it, then aggressively gain control and go up 19-18. Tu, with the
advantage of serve at 19-all, gets match-point. Then, a quirk of Fate, Tu has
the game-winning hanger--but misses the clincher. Li wins 23-21, and the match
is even.
Twice
in the 3rd game—from down 5-2 to 6-all, from down 12-8 to 13-11—Tu
fights back. But Li is too strong. One shot, repeated—a snap backhand down
Tu’s forehand line—is repeatedly dramatic. A killer point—Li’s brutal
targeting-in of Tu’s high-toss—turns the match to the Chinese. Now, without
any wasted motion, Li runs the score to 19-13…and 21-14 out. China 3—North
Korea 0.
So again there’s no doubt: China will lose this Championship only if she wants to.
China d. North Korea 3-0
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