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Fort Lauderdale, Florida • July 3-7, 2002

 

Wang Liqin is Out! Qin Zhijian is In!

By Larry Hodges

World #1, top seed and reigning world champion Wang Liqin of China is out of Men's Singles. The upset was applied by his very own doubles partner here, world #54 Qin Zhijian, -8,11,7,-5,9,8. 

So ... who is Qin Zhijian?

While not well known outside China, he's very well known in China, and to table tennis insiders worldwide. At the last Chinese Nationals, he had also defeated Wang Liqin in the men's singles semifinals. He lost in the final to Ma Lin.  Qin is the reigning World Mixed Doubles Champion, with Yang Ying.

He is a left-handed penholder with inverted on both sides. The key phrase is "both sides," as Qin is one of the best at using both sides of his racket on the backhand side. He can both loop and hit (or block) with either side - either the conventional way, or the reverse penhold style made popular by Liu Guoliang and Ma Lin in recent years. He is also known for his great touch. In his match with Wang Liqin, he often caught Wang off guard by sudden backhand hits from off the table. 

Qin is famous in another rather unique way - he is a star (in a major role) in a major TV series in China! He played a fictional table tennis player on the show "National Ball Player."

He is know to some in the U.S. for playing one year in the U.S. Open Teams in Detroit in the late 1990s.

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