Women's Play at the Guangzhou World's by Tim Boggan

photo by Qi Dazheng

Women’s Play at the Guangzhou World’s

By Tim Boggan
The 184-page, high-quality Program for the Evergrande Guangzhou World’s is indeed grand and in time will be a collector’s item, ever wanted. For the most part, it’s in Chinese, and, though not slighting other top teams, provides an historic compilation of photos of China’s great stars down through the years. The special section on their Women’s World Champions has as a headline, “Few Surprises Over Half A Century.” How apt, I think as I begin this write-up, how very apt.

Group A, B, C, D Round Robin Play
As in the Men’s Championship, the 24 top-seeded teams in Division 1 began play in four round robins. A 16-slot Single Elimination Draw would follow—with the top finishing team in each Group receiving a Bye in the eighth’s, and the second and third finishing teams battling to see who’d win their eighth’s match to get to the quarter’s. The 12 teams originally in the round robin that finished fourth/fifth/sixth would play for final-standing spots #13-#24—however, the teams finishing #23 and #24 would be relegated into Division 2 in 2010, while in the 24-team Division 2 the teams finishing #25—that’d be England—and #26 (Slovak Republic) would advance to Division 1 in 2010. I’m not covering Division 2 here, but I have to congratulate the English women—Kelly Sibley, Joanna Parker, and Emma Vickers for their gutsy achievement. En route to their Division 2 title, they remained undefeated, winning five 3-2 ties. Jolly well done.

In Group A, China (5-0) gave up, as in the Men’s, only one match—to North Korea: Kim Jong beat former World and Olympic Champion Wang Nan, 13-11 in the 4th. A “poor performance,” Wang told the media—a reminder, was it, of her opening-tie troubles in 2006 in Bremen? She looked better against our 1991 World Doubles Champion Gao Jun (who in 2005 at the World Cup here in Guangzhou took four-time winner Zhang Zhining into the seventh). The spectators thought Wang looked pretty good too. When on the first point Gao failed to return serve she heard roars of approval, and by the time she was down 7-1 her ears had dinned. Gao’s second-game try against this Chinese super-star resulted in missed forehands in the end game. After that, Wang was off to another fast start and a conclusive one.

In the next match, our North American Champion, Wang Chen, and her opponent, current World Champion Gao Yue, showed a mutual consistency. China: 11-4, 11-4…. Then the two broke the pattern: Wang, up 7-5, down 11-7. Was our Team discouraged? Out came Nan Li…to go down 10-0! She was then deliberately given a point. I would have given it back. But good for Nan—unflustered, she continued on, did the best she could, was at 8-all before mis-serving to lose the second 11-8, then the third 11-5.

USA (4-1) came second in Group A on the strength of winning three 3-2 ties. In the first of these, against Sweden (0-6), both our best players, World #20 Gao Jun and World #30 Wang Chen, were upset by World #104 Matilda Ekholm. Croatia also beat Sweden 3-2. This time Ekholm won only one, but Malin Pettersson, not among the World’s top 120, scored a huge upset over World #24 Tamara Boros, and then in the fifth match was at 10-all in the fourth with Sandra Paovic, 1997 European Cadet Champ. Boros—she had just snuck by Ekholm, 11-9 in the fifth—what was the matter with her? Had a bad coach, someone said—practicing with men, she tried for more power, but this wasn’t effective. Petterson, however, a disciplined worker, was no slouch. She’d been Swedish Cadet Girls Champ in 2004 and 2005, the U-15 Girls Champ in 2005 and 2006, and Champ at the 2007 Polish and Portuguese Youth Opens. Her daily weekday schedule: trains from 7:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.; attends school from 10:a.m. to 3:00 p.m.; practices from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.; then does homework.

Surprisingly, Croatia had an easy time with North Korea, actually blitzed them. But, ah, against the U.S. players, all using pips-out on the backhand, they did not have it easy. In fact, they fell behind 2-0 when, following Gao Jun’s straight-game win over Cornelia Vaida, Wang Chen won a -10, 9, 9, 10 no-let-up match against Boros. The second game was key. Wang stumbled off to an 0-5 start, but quickly closed to 4-5, after which, Time told Boros to retreat to her bench. On her return, Wang mis-served and stamped her foot…and soon found herself 9-5 down—but then won 6 in a row and was back in the match. Boros, whom someone called “a confidence player,” was no longer so confident. And rightly so, for the win now went to Wang.

Our Crystal Huang was beaten 3-0 by World #58 Paovic, which was no surprise—but Crystal’s first game raised eyebrows. She was down 6-1, her only point, unearned when Paovic had been faulted. Three times during this game Crystal mis-served…and still got eight points. Behind 2-0, but up 5-1 in the third, she was perhaps not aggressive enough, and lost that game from 9-all.

Gao Jun vs. Boros—get this one and we’d win the tie. But though Gao might have beaten Tamara four straight, she didn’t get the necessary three—she lost -11, -10, 8, 9, -6. Her second game was a disaster for us. Gao was up 10-5 when Boros’s give-up swat went in. At 10-7 Gao missed a hanger… then two more forehands, and it was deuce. Boros often favored a high-toss serve, and as the ball rose, she’d bring her racket arm underneath it, then take it away to make contact. Now she scored on a serve and follow to take the ad, and Gao on losing the next point flipped her racket tableward in disgust.

Gao, however, helped by two net-edges, won the third. And in the fourth she had Boros, hands in a plea to the ceiling and beyond, talking to herself…then had her down on her knees. On, into the fifth they went, where from five-all Gao’s forehand again failed her, and she lost the match down 10-6 on a net ball.

Now it was all up to Wang Chen. But Vaida, jumping over a barrier to pick up an errant ball—oh, yes, she was a wired World #95—had Wang down 2-1 in games. At one point, there was a momentary controversy. “Didn’t that ball hit?” the Croatian Coach, up off the bench, addressed Wang. Technically, that was a no-no? Ask Linda Hsing. Ask Umpires Joseph C.H. Lee or Irina Hellwig. Ask even Ray Cavicchio, as long as he was in uniform. These U.S. arbiters were all there, somewhere. No, the Croatian Coach wasn’t yellow-carded. How about that, Evaluator Azmy Ibrahim and, if push came to shove, Deputy Referee Wendell Dillon—they were there too. Was that non-intervention on the part of the umpire rule-book right?

In the fourth, Wang Chen looked cool—showed good control, was blocking well, not hitting hard but stroking well as if encouraging long rallies. But in the fifth, up 9-6, she gave us a last-minute scare when she failed to return serve and had her lead cut to 9-8. But Doru called Time, Manager Lily Yip closed her eyes, applied all her telepathic senses, and together, with Wang’s assistance, they brought home a winner.
Russia gave Croatia their third loss. It was another tie that must have rankled the Croats. Right away they were one-two knocked for a loop. Svetlana Ganina frustrated Boros the more, beating her 13-11 in the fifth. Irina Kotikhina thought this a salty result, and she, too, won 13-11 in the fifth—from Andrea Bakula. Anastasia Voronova completed the psychic sweep with an upset over Paovic.

The U.S. defeated Russia, 3-1—mostly at defender Ganina’s expense. First, Gao Jun beat her in five, winning a key 14-12 third game. Then Wang Chen took her on, and, down 2-0, gave us a bevy of tie-tingling thrills with a marvelous 10, 9, 11 comeback! As a 12-year-old, Ganina had won the 1992 World Student Games in Hungary. Now 28, and all grown up with a law degree, she feels it’s better to be a woman rather than a man defender. It’s an age of powerful attack play, and men are stronger. “Often for me,” she says, “it’s more important to run, to be physically fit, than to practice on the table.”

In our last tie, we defeated the North Koreans. U.S. Coach Doru Gheorghe opted to play Wang Chen in the single-match third spot for a “sure” win. He’d then trust that if Nan Li didn’t take a match Gao Jun would come through with the needed two against Kim Mi Yong and Kim Jong—which is what happened. Actually—though Gao, down 10-8 in the first game of her 3-0 match with Kim Jong, was able to swing the outcome her way—the drama largely centered around Wang. Up 2-0 and 10-9 match-point against lefty Hyon Ryon Hui, she mis-served, lost that game, but then, fist-up, won from 10-9 in the fourth.

North Korea’s 2-3 record put them in a three-way tie with Croatia and Russia for the wanted third spot. Since all three teams were 3-3 in games won/lost, points decided that Croatia would finish third, North Korea fourth and Russia fifth. Had that U.S.-North Korea tie been reversed, the U.S. and the North Koreans would each have been 3-2.We would still have advanced, though—because, although we’d lose the tie-breaker, we’d have finished third. North Korea, however, would have theoretically retained a title shot by finishing second, not fourth; and Croatia would have dropped from third to fifth.

Group B saw top-seed Singapore match China’s single loss—World #8 Li Jiawei gave up a five-gamer to Poland’s Natalia Partyka, a unique competitor at this tournament whom I never did get to see on court. Someone told me she was born with only the top part of an arm, was a former European Cadet Champion, and now 19 and charming.

Hungary, the 2007 European Team Champions, finished a rather easy second.

Romania was 3-2 tested by Chinese Taipei in a tie that decided third place. Taipei’s Li Yun Feng opened well enough with an 11-2 in the fifth win over World #40 Daniela Dodean, but then she closed with a five-game loss to 2007 European Youth Champion Elizabeta Samara.
Chinese Taipei did come fourth, helped by a victory over Poland. With the tie 1-1, Taipei produced a double whammy: Pan Li Chun eked out a 12-10-in-the-fifth win over Ganna Gaponovaa, and Huang I-Hwa promptly followed with an 11-9 in the fifth win over Tetyana Sorochynska.
The good news for Ukraine was they outlasted Poland, 3-2, to place fifth in the round robin. The bad news was they’d eventually finish #23 in Division 1 and (like Thailand who finished #24) be relegated. Feb. 25th was not a good day for Poland’s Xu Jie—she lost to Sorochynska, and then, after Partyka had won and her other teammate Quan Li, 2003 World Junior Champion, had split matches, winning her second, 17-15 in the fifth, Xu went down to Margaryta Pesotska. That afternoon, to add insult to injury, Hungary’s Petra Lovas rallied from two down to whomp Xu, 11-3 in the fifth. Not surprisingly Xu didn’t play Poland’s last match against Romania. With the tie 2-0 in favor of Romania, Partyka prevailed 11-9 in the fifth over Georgiana Necula, but then Dodean finished the tie with an 11-8-in-the-fifth win over Monike Pietkiewicz.
In Group C, every team’s play against Hong Kong went for naught, save Austria’s 2-3 effort in which, after Li Qiangbing’s 12-10-in-the-fifth win over Jiang Haujun, Austria was leading 2-0. Then, however, they were outscored nine games to one.

Germany, the second-place finisher, blanked Austria—but the victory really wasn’t that easy: World #17 Jiaduo (“Du-Du”) Wu, who’d gone 5 with Hong Kong’s Tie Yana, was suddenly able to -5, -8, 5, 6, 2 turn around her match against Li Qianbang. After which, Zhenqi Barthel 6, 11, -11, 11 out-elevened Liu Jia.

A more tenacious tie, however, saw Germany 3-2 struggle to beat Belarus who’d won a bronze in Bremen. “Du-Du” started with a belated Do it-Do it 20-18 in the fourth win over redoubtable defender Viktoria Pavlovich, one of my favorite players. Elke Wosik, 2007 runner-up in the German National’s to many-time winner Nicole Streuse (absent here to let a younger German take her place?), then blitzed Viktoria’s twin sister Veronika. But now Germany was stopped—defender Tatsiana Kastromina outplayed Barthel, 13-11 in the fourth; and Viktoria came back to outlast Wosik in five. Veronika, winning the fourth at four, looked like she might do a number on “Du-Du”—but after the score got to 10-all, the tie tipped to Germany.

Austria, too, had to go five to get by fourth-finisher Belarus. Liu Jia opened and Li Qiangbing closed with wins over Veronika Pavlovich. However, though Kostramina did in Veronika Heine, Viktoria couldn’t beat Liu.

Belarus managed to slip by Spain, 3-2. Galia Dvorak, behind 2-0 to Kostramina, rallied to win, 11-8 in the fifth. But in the end, the Pavlovich sisters, Veronica over Zhu Fang, and both of them over Sara Ramirez, were too strong.

Thailand earned fifth place over Spain—its only win. World # 84 Nanthana Komwong, who’d played well against Germany, downing 2007 European Youth runner-up Amelie Solja and forcing Wu into the fifth, contributed a win—but also a nasty 7, 11, -11, -9, -11 loss to Zhu Fang. It was another Thai, Anisara Muangsuk, whose double win won the day. Germany also downed Spain, 3-1, when they were able to split matches with Zhu Fang.

Japan tripped a bit, losing a match here (to France), a match there (to the Czech Republic when World #89 Iveta Vacenovska rallied from 2-1 down to beat lefty, two-wing top-spinner Kasumi Ishikawa, the 2004 Japanese U-12/U-13 Champion who’s obviously being weaned to U-21 Pro Tour titles). More importantly, though, Japan, its bench squealing, held on to its first-place position in the Group with a very shaky 3-2 win over South Korea who otherwise didn’t give up a single match (though it took them 15 games to subdue Italy).

The Japan-South Korea tie was maybe the best in round robin play—and this despite the fact that South Korea was apparently no longer supporting the return of their outstanding defenders, World #13 Kim Kyung Ah and World #21 Park Mi Young. Japan’s 2006 Brazil Open winner Haruna Fukuoka contributed a win over Lee Eun Hee, but it was World #19 Sayaka Hirano and World #9 Ai Fukuhara’s five-gamers over a very game World #61 Moon Hyun Jung that made the shade of difference, particularly Moon’s 12-10 in the fifth eclipse against the favored Fukuhara that had to have shadowed her psyche (down match point she choked on her serve return—pushed it high, way off the table).
The Netherlands (3-2) wasn’t unduly pressed to finish third—however, despite Elena Timina’s head-close-to-the racket winning chop defense against blonde attacker Laura Negrisoli, if you reversed 2007 European Champion Li Jiao’s five-game wins over 23-year-old Nikoleta Stefanova and Tan Monfardini Wenling, Italy would have beaten them. Stefanova’s parents played table tennis internationally for Bulgaria. “We learned English at school,” she said, “But most of the English I’ve learned I’ve taught myself.” Li also squashed France’s Xian Yi Fang’s hopes, mercilessly defeating her 11-1 in the fifth.

The official round robin sheet had France over the Czech Republic 3-1, but just the opposite was true, the Czechs beat the French, 3-1—and, given that Italy beat the Czechs, 3-0, and France beat Italy 3-2, there was a three-way tie, broken as follows: fourth-place Italy (5-3), fifth-place France (4-5), sixth-place Czech Republic (3-4). In the France-Italy tie, with her team down 2-0, and she herself down 2-0, Negrisoli fought back to snatch the match from Aurore Dessaint. Then Stefanova had a spirited win over Xian Yi Fang. But World #50 Tan Monfardini Wenling was a big disappointment. She lost in five to World #73 Xian Yi Fang, and in four to World #114 Carole Grundisch. Later, against Japan, Carole was again at her backhand best when she beat Ai Fukuhara and her up-to-the-table backhand flips and thrusts, 12-10 in the 5th, then carried Sayaka Hirano into the fifth as well.

Eighth’s
In the round of 16, Romania defeated Germany, 3-2, to have the honor of confronting China in the quarter’s. “Du Du” opened the tie with an 11-9 in the fourth win over Dodean (who also lost to Wosik) and closed the tie with an 11-9 loss to Samara. Thus much depended on the “weak” third players—and Cristina Alina Hirici rallied to win the 4th and 5th games against Solja. Better if Germany had brought Struse?
Against Austria, we were subject to a very unsatisfying schedule—we’d played a five-match tie against North Korea that afternoon and then had to play again at 7:30. Our Nan Li came through with a strong blitz of Veronika Heine, U-21 winner at the 2007 Kuwait Open. But World #16 lefty Liu Jia, who lost 3-0 to Gao Jun, beat Wang Chen, 3-1; and World #71 Qiangbing was too strong for both Wang (who dropped two 13-11 games to her) and, surprisingly, Gao (who dropped a 14-12 game).

The U.S. would go on to finish #12 (with Jackie Lee energetically getting into the action). And Gao, 38, having continued her enviable career after leaving her homeland, would go on to tell China Daily that the ITTF’s restrictions on Chinese players, especially those 21 and over who can now no longer represent their adopted countries at world title events, is “not fair for everybody and is not good for the sport.” Fortunately, the ruling is not retroactive, for think, she says, how all over the world—the ITTF now has 205 member-countries—Chinese players “have brought the skill level of the sport up.” Maybe, but, relative to the Asian-born women, how’s everybody else doing ranking-wise?

In another five-gamer—there’d be scarcely any difference in the final standings of these teams that, even if they advanced, were not favored to win in the quarter’s, but they all appeared to be taking these ties seriously. As for future “busy” positional matches, that was another matter, needlessly tiring even to talk about. Hungary was the winner over Croatia—but it wasn’t Boros’s fault; she rallied for a 13-11-in-the-fifth win over Georgina Pota, then, 1-1 with Krisztina Toth, she won the 14-12 game that helped her to take the match. But Paovic couldn’t help, and Vaida, who’d been so full of vita against the U.S., posted 3, 6, 4; 2, 5, 4 really “flat” scores (perhaps she wasn’t feeling well?).

Still another five-game tie: Netherlands (3)-South Korea (2). Must have been a lot of game-plan strategy talked about on both sides here. The match-up looked fairly even. And yet two days earlier in the round robin, South Korea had won 3-0. Differences: Dang Ye Seo, unknown to me, had upset World #14 Li Jiao, 7, 5, 3; this time she lost, 9, -7, -10, -9. Playing in third position, Moon had outscored former USSR star Timina 33-16; now Moon wasn’t playing at all in spite of her superlative though losing play against the highly favored Japanese, and Timina was playing the first and fourth positions, losing to World #31 Lee Eun Hee, but beating Dang. Last time World # 52 Li Jie had lost to the 22-year-old Lee, coached in over-the-table penhold play by Oh Sang Eun’s wife; this time Li lost to newcomer Kwak Bang Bang, 12-10 in the 4th. That made the tie 2-2. In the last bit of reshuffling, the Netherlands’ Li Jiao, 12, 12, 4 prevailed over Lee whom she’d not played in the round robin tie

Quarter’s
China (3)—Romania (0). China of course was much too strong for Dodean, Samara, and, play them as you will, Necula (World #196) and Hirici (World #327).

Hong Kong (3)—Austria (2). This three-hour tie was the only one with any tension. Austria’s Liu Jia took her two. But World #181 Heine, contesting more than expected against World #11 Lin Ling, lost, 7,-6, -13, -9 (literally down, finishing on her you know what on the court floor); and Li Qiangbing, who has this habit of holding her pose after missing a shot, was outplayed by (“CHIN-a! CHIN-a!”) both Tie Yana and Jiang Haujun. My notes and the official score sheets, sometimes with non-existent individual scores and mis-translations, are sometimes at odds, and though I think I’m right, the red numbers against a school-blackboard-like background on court are very hard to read and occasionally I could be in error.

Japan (3)—Hungary (0). Fukuhara, still a teenager, told the media that “the theme for our team is the undefeatable spirit”—and the enthusiasm of the Japanese bench certainly bore that out.

Singapore (3)—Netherlands (0). The Netherlands was down 2-0—Li Jiawei had beaten Timina, and Feng Tianwei had overcome Li Jiao—when Li Jie, playing against Wang Yuegu, was forced to default with a first-game twisted ankle.

Semi’s
The China (3)—Hong Kong (0) semi’s start with all Team members, playing in this tie or not, shaking hands. China has the world’s top five players; Hong Kong has three of the following six. Perhaps this tie will be somewhat close? Could be—current World Champion GuoYue loses her opening game against 23-year-old Jiang Huajun, a former member of the Chinese National Team and the current Asian Champion. But then when Guo wins the second, and goes 5-0 up in the third, it becomes clear Jiang is dead, as is the mostly Asian audience. With only one European-born player in the World’s Top 33, it must get a bit tiresome watching so many of the Chinese play among themselves. By this time the scorekeeping umpire has repeatedly wiped the floor and the table, but it doesn’t look to me like the players have broken much of a sweat. In the fourth, Jiang’s up 6-3, down 8-6, and soon it’s time to move on to the next match….After the dancing pom-pom girls have short-skirt wiggled by.

In the second match, Wang Nan, four-time World Cup winner, meets 2006 Asian Games runner-up Tie Yana. Wang, up 10-2 in the first, seems out to prove, if prove she must, that Chinese officialdom should pick her for the sole spot remaining for a Chinese entry in the upcoming Olympic Qualifier. Uh, make that score 11-2 for Nan She just got a net-edge—lucky break. Back she goes to her Coach for advice—better, apparently, to absorb what he’s saying without eye contact. Hong Kong’s woman coach, as I watch her in close-up on the giant screen, looks to be sensitive and sympathetic—the more so, I suppose, when Wang 11-4 finishes with Tie.

That brings in former World Champion Zhang Yining against former World runner-up Lin Ling, and if the first game is any indication of what we’re going to see we’re in for quite a treat. Zhang leads 8-3, but wait! Lin scores six in a row against the World #1, and forces her to extended deuce play. Zhang finally wins it with a dazzling counter-loop from back court. Alas, however, the remaining two games, 11-3, 11-4, aren’t what even partisan “CHIN-a! CHIN-a! fans would most like to see.

The Singapore (3)—Japan (0) tie opens with Wang Yuegue, 2006 Japan and German Open winner, who I heard earlier played for China and was now 40 years old, vs. Kasumi Ishikawa, World #143, who turned 15 just the day before the tournament started. Maybe this one will be a close tie? Of the world’s top 15 players, Singapore has three; of the world’s top 23 players, Japan has three. Why, though, are the Japanese playing World #143? Because in the 2007 Asian Cup Ishikawa beat Wang.

In the first game, the Japanese girl is down 4-0…10-7—it’s not been easy for her to get through the aggressive Wang who’s ready to attack high-toss serves or anything else. Still, Iskikawa deuces it. Wang gets the ad, though—and her coach calls Time! Wang comes back to Kasumi who’s stayed at the table, and wins the important 12-10 point. In the second game, at 6-6, Wang goes for her towel; Ishikawa doesn’t. Youth just wants to get on with it? But when play resumes, Ishikawi fails to return serve. Down 10-9, she whiffs away the game. In the 3rd, up 5-4, Wang runs five in a row and Japan’s hopes for the match are gone.

Now it’s the current Japanese Champion Hirano against 2005 Pro Tour Grand Final finalist Li Jiawei. Hirano acknowledges her opponent with, if not a bow, a respectful nod, and hopes, as do her teammates, to rise to the occasion, point after point. They split the first two games, often with very fast-hands counter-play. Up 10-8 in the third, Li misses three consecutive forehands, but when Hirano gets the ad perhaps she’s too anxious, she can’t come close with her own forehand. Li, given another chance, doesn’t mis-connect. In the fourth, Hirano falls behind 4-2, then 8-2, but, though she’s tough, she perseveres, she can’t get closer than 10-8. Fukahara, then, if Japan is to survive, has to beat 2007 Chinese Taipei and Panasonic China Open U-21 winner Feng Tianwei. But though she can’t do it, can’t win a game, you’ve got to admire her never-say-die move in the third—from 1-7 down she got to 8-11.

The U.S. Dr. Michael Scott/Tyra Parkins team who give the players doping tests, maybe I should say dopey tests, for the athletes, usually way ahead of officials, doctors, testers, want a level playing field, and, says Michael, the only way to get rid of drugs is if the athletes themselves don’t want to use them. They’ll be imaginative, innovative. As with the gluing. Players were using—still are?—volatile glue in the center of their rackets, but water-based glue around the edges, so the gases wouldn’t escape and give them away.

Though Dr. Scott and Tyra said that women were worse offenders than men, the Japanese, tested after their semi’s loss to Singapore, proved to be innocent, but they were sobbing so that it took all of Michael’s leprechaunish wit and charm to bring them out of their funk.

O.K., one more tie to go—and how suspenseful do you think that will be. China opens with Guo Yue, their third, as it were, against Singapore’s Li Jiang. Hello! Down 10-9 in the first, Guo serves, Li pops up her return, Guo swings and doesn’t even touch the ball. In the second, it’s 8-all and the fans are squirming for their #1 team (“CHINA-a! CHIN-a!”). Oh, yeah! The spectators’ tall, thin balloons banging together sound like firecrackers—China, 10-8. But Jiang serves and follows, 10-9. Jiang serves again—Guo fails to return the ball. Now Jiang, like a chess player looking ahead, positions her play perfectly—wins 12-10. In the third, Jiang leads 10-6, has four match points. She uses up three of them. Then Guo errs—goes back to her bench and sits there looking very glum. And no wonder—China is being blitzed.

Do you like Zhang Zining’s chances against Feng? Sure you do—Zhang, 11-5 in the first. But up 10-9 in the second, she mis-hits, misses a backhand, and loops her serve return long. Never mind, play returns to normal, 11-7, 11-6, as Zhang moves tableward with her controlling backhand—her legs giving her forward momentum and tip-toe power.

Wang Nan, primed for Beijing, beats Wang Yuegu, 5, 5, 4. The balloons are thumpin’, the dancing girls rumpin’.
The fourth match decides—but not the first game. That goes to Li Jiawei. Down 10-9 Zhang serves to Li’s forehand, and accepting the challenge, Li blasts it in. In the second, Li continues to play well, Zhang better. And then, 11-4, 11-3 much better.
“It’s in the little strokes that the Chinese excel,” says Romania’s Samara. “Watch them play near the net and return the ball short; there is positive movement from the wrist; it’s not just a rebound from the racket. Chinese girls use weights; they’ve strong legs. The rubber on the Chinese rackets is different; the spin is different.”

The outcome of their matches is different too. Here in Guangzhou, the Chinese have won their eighth straight World Team title.