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46th World Table Tennis Championships
Osaka, Japan · April 23 - May 6, 2001
By Larry Hodges
Noting how several members of the Chinese team (including Liu Guoliang) had shaved themselves bald after doing poorly at last year's U.S. Open, three members of the U.S. Team decided to do something similar. Meet new redheads Ashu Jain, Mark Hazinski and Barney J. Reed!
The draws for Men's Singles, Men's Doubles, Women's Singles, Women's Doubles and Mixed Doubles are all up.
Women’s Singles, Round of
32
Chang Gao Jun (USA) vs. Kim Moo Kyo (KOR)
Just a few years ago Gao Jun would have been a heavy favorite in this match,
and she would have probably moved on to the round of 16. But that was as Gao
Jun, full-time member of the Chinese National Team, ranked #3 in the world, a
world women’s doubles and team champion and a silver medallist (women’s
doubles) at the 1992 Olympics. Now she was Chang Gao Jun, a part-time player on
the U.S. National Team, ranked #35 in the world. Her opponent, Kim Moo Kyo of
Korea, was no longer ranked “only” 17th in the world; she was now
ranked a formidable 17th in the world. (That’s not a typo; it’s
all relative.)
Kim is a left-handed shakehand looper with a strong all-out forehand attack.
Gao is usually able to throw opponent’s timing off with her varied blocks.
However, Kim was about to react to the changes and kept up a steady forehand
barrage for most of the match. It wasn’t until the third game that Gao’s
blocking and pick-hitting game began to rise to Kim’s level.
After losing the first two games at 15 & 14 (there’s not much to write
about; Kim attacked all out, and Gao wasn’t able to stop it), it looked like
Gao didn’t have a chance. However, except for a few key careless mistakes, she
could have won the third. Everyone makes mistakes, but players of Gao’s
caliber rarely miss such easy pop-ups as she did at 5-9 and 17-18. She also
served off at 14-16. Yet, despite those mistakes (mistakes she probably would
not have made were she still in any type of serious training), she came back
from down 8-13 to tie it up at 17-all. From there on she missed two smashes
(including the easy one mentioned above), while Kim made a spectacular
counterloop winner and a flip kill to end it. Match to Kim, 15,14,17 … and USA
is out of the tournament.
Kim Yun Mi (PRK) d. Li Ju (CHN), -18,18,21,17
World #2 Li Ju goes down to world #59 Kim Yun Mi of South Korea.
Liu Jia (AUT) d. Yang Ying (CHN), -17,14,16,16
World #6 Yang goes down to world #22 Liu Jia of Austria, a former province
player for China who immigrated to Austria when China wouldn’t put her on the
National Team.
Li Nan (CHN) d. Otilia Badescu (ROM), -19,-16,14,16,17
World #37 Badescu was up 2-0 on world #11 Li Nan before losing in five.
Other Matches
Men’s Singles, Round of 64
Lucjan Blaszczyk (POL) d. Johnny Huang (CAN), 15,16,-15,-20,21
In the previous round, Huang had barely gotten by Chen Weixing of Austria,
winning 19 in the fifth.
Philippe Saive (BEL) d. Yan Sen (CHN), -16,16,18,17
Fresh off his win over Jorgen Persson in the Teams (helping put Belgium in
the finals), world #47 Philippe Saive continues to be hot, taking down world #30
Yan Sen.
Liu Guoliang (CHN) d. Marcin Kusinski (POL), -9,18,17,12
This match was a struggle for defending Men’s Singles Champion Liu. After
losing that first game at 9, he was behind 14-16 in the second to world #75
Kusinski.
Kalinikos Kreanga (GRE) d. Martin Bratanov (BEL), 15,-23,-20,10,12
Bratanov, ranked #105 in the world, played great in the teams, and while he lost
here to the world #18 player, he led 2-1 in games.
Torben Wosik (GER) d. Yang Min (ITA), 12,19,-12,-18,19
This was Wosik’s second consecutive 19-in-the-fifth win. He had defeated
Srdan Milicevic (BIH) the round before, 17,-19,-18,14,19. This was also a minor
upset, as Wosik is ranked #29 to Yang’s 29.
Adrian Crisan (ROM) d. Thiago Monteiro (BRA), 19,22,20
Yesterday, world #287 Monteiro defeated world #16 Christophe Legout in the
upset of the day. Today he battled almost dead even with world #48 Crisan.
Jan-Ove Waldner (SWE) d. Roko Tosic (CRO), 12,18,-22,16
This was your typical Waldner match. He won the first two by throwing in all
sorts of shots – loops, lobs, fishes, sidespins, chops, etc. Then he got
bored, fell behind and lost the third game. In the fourth, Waldner still isn’t
really doing anything until 16-all. Then, suddenly he’s all alive, and he
scores five in a row to end it.
Kong Linghui (CHN) d. Segun Toriola (NGR), 17,-17,12,18
World #2 Kong struggled in the teams, and was finally dropped to the #3 spot on
the Chinese team. After winning the first against world #136 Toriola, he fell
behind 15-4 in the second! He nearly came back, losing at 17. In the fourth, he
was down 17-18 before pulling it out – but it almost went five. He will need
to raise his level or the former World and current Olympic Men’s Singles
Champion won’t go many more rounds.
Japanese Woes
Today was a very bad day for the hometown
Japanese cheering for their men’s team. All five of their men lost, including
three five-gamers, two of which were deuce in the fifth. (Also, their last
men’s doubles team, Iseki/Tasaki, lost as well.) Japan’s #1 player, Seiko Iseki (world #20) was up 2-1 in
games to Lee Chul Seung before losing to the world #43 player. Japan’s #2
player, Toshio Tasaki (world #22) was up 2-0 in games before losing deuce in the
fifth to Lars Hielscher, ranked 111th in the world. Japan’s #3
player, chopper Koji Matsushita (world #23), was up 18-15 in the fifth on Cheung
Yuk (world #35). He suddenly attacked four points in a row, and missed all four.
Japan’s only ray of sunlight was when world #123 Kiho Shinnosuke almost forced
world #1 Wang Liqin into a fifth game, leading 18-15 in the fourth.
Other Matches
Men’s Doubles, Round of 16
Jean-Philippe Gatien/Patrick Chila (FRA) d. Joerge Rosskopf/Lars Hielscher (GER,
8,-15,21
The Germans were playing great the entire match – in fact, both sides
were. But the excellent play of up-and-coming Lars Hielscher was a surprise. (He
would later this day beat Toshio Tasaki, world #22.) However, the match ended on
a relatively sour note, at least for the Germans. Due to his and Rosskopf’s
excellent play, Germany was up match point in the third … and Hielscher missed
a hanger.
Other Matches
Men’s Doubles, Quarterfinals
Kim Taek Soo/Oh Sang Eun (KOR) d. Jean-Philippe Gatien/Patrick Chila (FRA),
9,18,-14,-15,18
This was a doozy of a match, highlighted by the near-French comeback. France
lost the first two, won the next two, but was down 13-7 and 15-10 in the fifth.
They pulled to 17-19, and actually had some shots that might have won. At 18-20,
Chila missed a backhand loop that probably would have been a winner.
Wang Liqin/Yan Sen (CHN) d. Lee Chul Seung/Ryu Seung Min (KOR),
-12,9,19,20
Chiang Peng-Lung/Chang Yun-Shu (TPE) d. Ma Lin/Liu Guozheng (CHN), 15,24,14
These two matches were played side-by-side, and were a demonstration in
counterlooping – some of the best points of the tournament were played here.
In particular, at 17-15 in the fourth, the China-Korea match above had an
incredible counterlooping point. Almost the instant it finished, the
Taipei-China match, with the score 23-22, had almost an identical rally.
Kong Linghui/Liu Guoliang d. Li Ching/Ko Lai Chak (HKG), 18,14,15
While the other teams are battling, the most decorated doubles team in the
last five years was coasting along.
Women’s Doubles, Round of 16
Women’s Doubles, Quarterfinals
Akiko Takeda/Kawagoe Mayu (JPN) d. Tamara Boros/Eldijana Aganovic (CRO),
22,19,-16,21
With all their disappointments on the men’s side, this was the one ray of
joy for the hometown fans. With the crowd behind them, these two could go all
the way – or they may run into a Chinese brick wall.
Wang Nan/Li Ju (CHN) d. Liu Jia/Judit Herczig (AUT), 14,14,17
Otherwise known as the Chinese brick wall.
Zhang Yingying/Zhang Yining (CHN) d. Kim Hyon Hui/Kim Hyang Mi (PRK),
-17,-16,12,15,15
Another five-game comeback!
Yang Ying/Sun Jin (CHN) d. Lee Eun Sil/Suk Eun Mi (KOR), 18,17,12
The Chinese second team will face a hot Japanese team in the semifinals,
with the crowd cheering for the hometown team.
Mixed Doubles, Quarterfinals
The Mixed Doubles event has basically turned into a wide-open graveyard
of top-seeded teams that have fallen by the wayside. Yesterday, the
second-seeded team of Wang Liqin/Wang Nan lost. (Why were they not seeded first,
since they are the #1 man and woman in the world?) Today the top-seeded team of
Ma Lin/Zhang Yingying lost; so did the third or fourth-seeded team of Yan Sen/Li
Ju. The only connection among all these upsets is that all three of these teams
are from China. (Some spectators to the Ma Lin/Zhang Yingying quarterfinal loss
thought they weren’t really trying, even thought they were dumping, but why
would they do that?)
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