Osaka, Japan · April 23 - May 6, 2001
By Larry Hodges
Today was a huge day - especially for China. The semifinals and final of Women’s Singles were played; the quarterfinals and semifinals of Men’s Singles were played; and the final of Men’s Doubles was played. Articles on these are up under the “News” section, but they are linked above.
China seems to be sweeping everything. They have won 5 of the 7 events already, and the Men’s Singles Final, to be played tomorrow, is an all-Chinese event, so that gives China 6 of 7. The last refuge of the rest of the worlds is Women’s Doubles, which is only to the semifinals, with the last two rounds to be played tomorrow. Three of the four teams left are Chinese; the weight of the non-Chinese world (about 300 million tons) rests on the shoulders of the Japanese pair, Takeda Akiko and Kawagoe Mayu, the world’s #63 and #143 ranked players, but with high hopes and aspirations; but they will have to first get by Sun Jin and Yang Ying (world #4 and #6 players) and (most likely, in the final) Wang Nan and Li Ju (world #1 and #2).
Most of the U.S. team is still here, watching these matches
under the direction of Coaches Dan Seemiller and Doru Gheorghe. Hopefully they
will bring back some of this.
| |
| USA Table Tennis - Serving the Table Tennis Community |
| |