46th
World Table
Tennis Championships46th
World Table
Tennis ChampionshipsOsaka, Japan · April 23 - May 6, 2001
By Larry Hodges
USA Women had a great day, defeating Israel 3-1 and then Slovak 3-1 to make it to the first division.
The Preliminary Round Robins were completed today, as well as the knock-out round. (See Format for explanation. Basically, the group winners are seeded to the final 16; the third-place finishers have to face a knock-out match from a second division team to stay in the first division, with the winners of this match playing a second-place first division team in the round before the final 16. (Note that world rankings, in parenthesis, come from the last World Teams in Malaysia in 2000, and that most rankings are ranges, not specific rankings.)
Group A: As expected, top-seeded Sweden won the group, with Peter Karlsson’s 19 & 14 loss to Denmark’s Michael Maze the only match they lost. They defeated Vladimir Samsonov and the Belarus team 3-0, with Jorgen Persson defeating Samsonov at 16,-13,17, and Fredrick Hakansson finishing things off with a spectacular 18,-15,20 win over the chopper with the unpronounceable name, Evgeni Chtchetinine. In a small upset, Belarus (World #17-21) upset Denmark (#13-16) 3-2 (Samsonov winning two, and chopper Evgeni Chtchetnine defeating Finn Tugwell in the final match at 14 & 14) to force Denmark to defend its first-division status in the knock-out round.
Group B: Second-seeded (but with the top three and five of the top six players in the world) China annihilated Russia (15,14,10,10,13,15), and Yugoslavia would also beat Russia for second place, 3-0, with Aleksandar Karakesevic pulling out a 16,-10,19 win over Aleksei Smirnov in the first match. China defeated Yugoslavia 3-0 as well, but both Ma Lin and Liu Guozheng lost games – but won the final game under 10, with Ma defeating Sobadan Grujic at 16,-19,7, and Guozheng defeating Karakesevic at –14,17,9.
Group C: Japan won the group, defeating both Greece and Hungary 3-1 each. Hungary (world #17-21) upset Greece (world #13-16) 3-2 for second, with none of the matches particularly close.
Group D: As many expected they would, France (#13-16) "upset" Italy (#3-4), 3-1, with all four matches being easy 2-0 matches (the four second games were 14, 12, 14, 14) and Italy’s only win Yang Min’s 21 & 14 win over Parick Chila. Both teams soundly defeated Slovenia 3-0.
Group E: South Korea didn’t exactly waltz over the other teams, but they defeated Poland 3-0 and Hong Kong 3-1. Against Poland, World #10 Kim Taek Soo pulled out an opening 16,-18,20 win over world #60 Tomasz Krzeszewski. Against Hong Kong, Korea’s Oh Sang Eun opened with a 14,-19,14 loss to Cheung Yuk, but Korea won the next three relatively easily. Hong Kong (#21-24) upset Poland (#9-12) for second, winning 3-2, with Hong Kong’s Li Ching, ranked #143 in the world, winning both against Lucjan Blaszczyk (world #22) and Krzeszewski, each time winning the third game easily. (This group was closely watched by theUSA team, which would play the third-place finisher in the knock-out phase – except that they lost to Nigeria, and so never made it that far.)
Group F: How could Czech (#9-12), lose to Spain, and then defeat the powerful Chinese Taipei team? Czech’s ace Petr Korbel (world #19) won both his matches easily against Spain, but his teammates were swept – with Spain’s Carlos Muchado winning 18,-14,21 against Martin Olejnik, and Daniel Torres (world #189) winning the fifth against world # 64 Richard Vyborny. However, unbelievably, Czech would turn around and defeat Chinese Taipei (world # 5-8, but much improved)? Once again, Korbel swept his matches, including a nice 24 & 13 win over world #4 Chiang Peng-Lung. It went to the fifth, and Czech’s Marek Klasek, world #187, upset Chuan Chih-Yuan, world #33, with the unbelievable scores of 11 & 12! However, when Chinese Taipei creamed Spain 3-0 (10, 11, 18, 15, 10, 19 were the game scores), it forced a three-way tie, with Chinese Taipei coming in first (5-3 in matches), Czech second (5-5) and Spain third (3-5).
Group G: This group looks, at first glance, as the most straightforward of the groups, with the teams finishing in order of seeding, and the winning teams winning by scores of 3-0, 3-0 and 3-1. However, two of the most exciting matches of tournament took place, and both involved Austria’s Werner Schlager, world #8. In the opening match against Canada, Schlager pulled out a –18,11,19 win over world #29 Johnny Huang; this was a classic match between the blocking and hitting Huang (a shakehander with pips on both sides), and the pure two-winged looping of Schlager. Schlager’s teammates then won the next two matches easily. Schlager’s next adventure was against Germany’s world # 13 Jorg Rosskopf. Germany led the match 2-1, but Schlager had a chance to force it into the fifth if he could defeat Rosskopf. But Rosskopf pulled it out, -15,18,20. Germany won the group, Austria came second, and Canada third.
Group H: Belgium (#9-12), seeded second in the group to Netherlands (#5-8) won relatively easily, defeating Slovak 3-1, and Netherlands 3-0. Interestingly, they didn’t play their #1 ace, Jean-Michel Saive (world #14) against Netherlands, instead playing Martin Bratanov (world #105) in the third position, and moving Andras Podpinka (world #67) to the #2 position behind Jean-Michel’s brother, Philippe (world #47). It worked. Netherlands defeated Slovak 3-1 for second, with all four matches 2-0.
After all the dust had cleared:
These would be closely contested – with the second division team winning four of the eight. The winning teams moved to the first division the losing teams to the second division.
Croatia d. Denmark 3-1. After Denmark’s Allan Bentsen defeated Roko Tosic at 14 & 14, and Denmark’s Michael Maze (world #66) went up 14-6 in the third against Zoran Primorac (world #7), it looked like Denmark would coast. But Primorac would find his way out of this maze and make an amazing comeback, 11,-17,19. He’d also win the fourth against Bentsen (world #44) at 14 & 20.
South Korea d. Russia 3-1. Kiim Song Hui led his team to victory with two wins, over Maksim Chmyrev and Aleksei Smirnov.
Greece d. Vietnam 3-1. Kalinikos Kreanga led his team to victory with two lopsided wins, over Don Kien Quoc and Vu Manh Cuong, at 7 & 11 and 12 & 13.
Norway d. Slovenia 3-1. Wang Jianfeng (world #83) led his team to victory with two wins.
Poland d. Nigeria 3-0. Poland coasts over the team that knocked out USA.
Spain d. India 3-2. He Zhiwen (world #34) led his team to victory with his two wins, including an 8 & 11 win over India’s ace, world #85 Chetan Baboor.
England d. Canada 3-2. Johnny Huang, world #37, won his two matches for Canada – including a 19-in-the-third win over Gareth Herbert – but his teammates couldn’t pull out one.
Slovak d. Israel 3-0. Erik Illas’ deuce-in-the-third win over Ianiv Sharon was the key.
Sweden, China, Japan, France, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Germany, Netherlands, Belarus, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Italy, Hong Kong, Czech, Austria, Netherlands, Croatia, South Korea, Greece, Norway, Poland, Spain, England and Slovak.
Group A: China lost two games! Two!!! But, as expected, they won both team matches 3-0. In the battle for second, Lithuania defeated Canada 3-1, with all four matches one-sided sweeps.
Group B: Chinese Taipei lost five games! Five!!! In fact, Slovak’s Valentina Popova (world #98) would defeat Jing Xu (world #46), 18,-19,16. OK, so Chinese Taipei isn’t quite China, although they do have Chen Jing (world #5). They defeat Slovak 3-1 and Yugoslavia 3-0 for first. Yugoslavia barely pulls it out against Slovak, winning 3-2, despite Zuzana Pollackova’s –13,17,22 win over Biljana Golic.
Group C: South Korea barely pulls it out against Croatia for first, 3-2. In this closest of the division team match, Croatia wins the first two matches, both 2-0. South Korea wins the next two relatively easily. In the Croatian-heartbreaking fifth, Kim Moo Kyo defeats Tamara Boros, -18,18,19. Croatia, however had already defeated Italy for the second spot – also 3-2, this time 18-in-the-third-in-the-fifth-match, as Croatia’s Andrea Bakula defeats Wang Yu, -19,21,18 in the fifth.
Group D: Romania dominates, defeating Indonesia 3-0 and Belarus 3-1, with very few games close. Belarus has little trouble with Indonesia, winning 3-0.
Group E: Russia won the first two against Japan (including Galina Melnik’s –19,17,22 win over An Konishi), but Japan won the next six games by easy scores – 16, 18, 15, 12, 12, 6. Russian took apart Ukraine 3-0 for second, also by easy scores – 14, 19, 7, 10, 10, 14.
Group F: Singapore won both team matches easily, defeating Sweden 3-0 and Czech 3-1. Czech defeated Sweden (led by the Svenssons, non-sisters, Asa and Marie, who played the top two positions) 3-1, with the key being Czech’s Renata Strbikova defeating Marie Svensson, 12,-20,20.
Group G: North Korea upset Germany 3-0 for first place, but all three were three-gamers, with Germany winning the first game in all three. Kim Hyang Mi defeated Nicole Struse, -15,19-20; Kim Hyon Hui defeated Jie Schoepp, -18,10,15; and Tu Jong Sil defeated Elke Schall, -13,15,10. Both teams defeated Australia 3-1, with Miao Miao of Australia defeating both Schall, -15,13,20, and Kim Hyang Mi, 15 & 17. Interesting matches: North Korea’s Kim Hyun Hui defeated Australia’s Tammy Gough at 9 & 1, while Germany won the fourth match against Australia when Jie Schoepp dfeted Miao Miao at –20, 19,3.
Group H: Hungry upset Hong Kong for first, 3-0, with only the second match close when Hungary’s Csilla Batorfi defeated Lau Sui Fei, -13,18,18. Surrounding that were Krisztina Toth’s 14 & 8 win over Kwok Fong Fong and Vivien Ello’s 18 & 17 win over Ching Wong. Hungary and Hong Kong both defeated France 3-0, including Toth’s 22 & 25 win over France’s Agathe Costes.
After all the dust had cleared:
USA d. Slovak, 3-0. See write-up!
Luxembourgh d. France 3-1. Ni Xia Lian (world #15) completely dominated with her dead-blocking and flipping penhold style, with long pips and inverted. Once Regenwetter won the first match deuce in the third it was all over.
Belgium d. Australia 3-2. Miao Miao won both her matches for Australia,but her teammates never scored more than 16 points in a game.
Sweden d. England 3-0. Sweden didn’t lose a game, only one was close. Their gaining on Waldner and Persson!
Malaysia d. Ukraine, 3-0. Like Sweden, Malaysia didn’t lose a game, and only one was close. Unlike Sweden, they are already ahead of their men!
Greece d. Indonesia, 3-0. Volakaki’s 25-23 in the third win in the first match was the key. While we’re here … say these six names fast three times.
Austria d. Italy 3-1. Liu Jia (world #22) dominates, winning two. But if Herczig hadn’t pulled out that deuce-in-the-third in the opening match, things might have been different.
Thailand d. Lithuania 3-2. Thailand’s Anisara Muangsuk opened with a win, and closed out the team match with a 21-5 in the third win.
China, China Taipei, South Korea, Romania, Japan, Singapore, North Korea, Hungary, Canada, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Belarus, Russia, Czech, Germany, Hong Kong, USA, Luxembourgh, Belgium, Sweden, Malaysia, Greece, Austria and Thailand.
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