World Team Championship Reports
Worlds: Men’s Singles
By Tim Boggan
We Americans, despite President Bush’s unpopularity abroad, couldn’t have asked for a more accommodating World Championships. In Bremen we were put up at the 5-star Maritim Hotel and were so interconnected with the AWD-Dome playing venue, the Media Center, the ITTF Museum and Meeting Rooms, and the participants’ restaurants that we didn’t even have to step outside. Which from the point of view of the German police who took it upon themselves to provide low-key security for us—along with the Israelis and the Danes—was a blessing. Yep, they had us all booked on the top floor, and unless you slid your room-card into the elevator slot provided, you couldn’t exit out the elevator door at “5.” Occasionally in one place or another you’d see a muzzled police dog. But certainly any number of us didn’t feel at all sequestered—though once one of the casually dressed Force asked me with concern whether any of our players planned to go out that evening.
The Opening Ceremony, watched by attending representatives from 153 of the ITTF’s 202 member-countries, a large local audience, and millions of TV viewers, featured four giant screens facing all N-E-S-W sections of the arena. The show opens with a spectacular array of flashing lights: sedentary, spinning sparklers; sprays of light showering upward; and swift-moving rays hurtling about and above the arena like very fast-moving, very large grayish-white bats. Then, cued to act with the music and the MC’s patter, out rush a host of boys and girls, armed with rackets and balls, to miniature tables set up all over the playing floor. They’re accompanied, on the sidelines, by “Ping” and “Pong,” the tournament “mascots,” one black, one white, who look and act like large affectionate dancing bears but are described in media print as “panthers.” Panthers? Ridiculous—as are attempts by the kids to keep the ball in play on these little tables.
Impressive, though, is the fire act to a syncopated drumbeat that follows. Pots of rising flame surround a makeshift stage while bare-chested guys lift with both hands bar-bell-like props, their ends set afire, and whirl them in unison this way and that; then they switch to fire sticks which they juggle about. As I watch from my spot in the media section, I’m suddenly surprised by the appearance of the MC to my left who appears taken aback when he finds a correspondent from Shanghai at the Israeli desk. He moves on to me, wants to know where I’m from. I’m spotlighted on the four screens all over the arena. Conscious that no security agent is going to save me from a crack marksman up in the balconies, I say bravely, “The United States.” He asks me if I’ve ever been in Bremen before, and I reply, “No, but I’ve been elsewhere in Germany.” What do I think of Bremen? It’s “fantastic,” I say (though I’ve not been out of the Hotel/Dome complex). After which he turns to the correspondent to my right, who, as it happens, is also from China. “See,” he says into his mike as from a prepared script, “they’re here from all over the world.”
After my act, the show continues. We see a lively troupe of men and women doing various dance routines; a mime playing (and winning) a solitary table tennis match; a choir spotlighted in the highest reach of the arena singing from Gounod’s “Faust”; then singers doing their best with a musical score by Elton John. Now an interim of distinguished performances—welcomes from German TTF President Thomas Weikert and Bremen Mayor Jens Bohrnsen, followed by ITTF President Adham Sharara who pronounces the tournament officially OPEN!
To the thematic “table tennis hymn,” “Magic Ball,” first played at the Dortmund World’s in 1989,” out rolls a huge, somewhat transparent ball with someone inside who by shifting his weight (and getting a little outside help) manipulates his way about the arena floor. Women gymnasts then come on in a choreographed performance—throwing, catching, and somersaulting through large hoops. A grand finale brings all the performers out to take their bow.
This colorful, varied Program completed, we can now turn to the 115 Men’s teams, or, rather, to the 24 Championship Division teams, that from the beginning I won’t say conceivably, but theoretically, have a chance to take the title—China of course prepared to do heavy 3-man duty with its #1, #3, and #4 players in the world. Do they lose a match in their opening 6-team A Group round robin? They do not…and manage to exercise World #6 Chen Qi and World #18 Ma Long (with two seasons left in the Junior’s!) while they’re at it. Do they lose a game? World and Olympic Champion Wang Liqin’s honorific one perhaps—to last year’s surprising semifinalist, Denmark’s World #17 Michael Maze who, particularly in serving, always looks like he’s trying to throw off his opponent’s timing by being excessively deliberate. As the winner of their Group, China gets a Bye to the quarter’s. Off court, too, they look en masse in control—with their matching dressy emblazoned jacket outfits or subtle pin-stripe suits.
Of great interest to the spectators is the appearance of Sweden’s revered Jan-Ove Waldner, at 40 now of course not up to his World and Olympic Championship play but still the Swedish National Champion. Last year, he’d announced that he’d no longer be playing for his country in World Championships. It was a popular decision that he’d changed his mind.
Right off, Sweden won an important tie against Italy—with J-O holding 11, 12, 7 strong against World #54 Yang Min, a former Hungarian and Russian Open Champion from Shanghai; and the veteran Peter Karlsson, getting a chance to blitz Yang as he had Massimiliano Mondello after World #28 Jens Lundqvist, positioned as the Swedish #3, was upset by World #278 Mihal Bobocica.
Sweden also scored with the fans when World #32 Waldner prevailed over Maze in 5, thus contributing to the Swede’s shutout of the Danes. J-O didn’t do anything spectacular—he often served short to the 2004 European Top 12 winner, just seemed to take his time, undeterred by Maze’s flash counters. Waldner may be “soft,” but, unpredictable as he is, he sure can put the ball where Maze isn’t. Final case in point: J-O aces the Dane and as the ball goes down the line he follows it with gun-sight hand and trigger-finger pulled. Bull’s-eye! Way up atop the stands, as in Valhalla, three bearded, helmeted Vikings outfitted in blue and gold, and backed up by a large Swedish flag, loudly chant their approval.
In the 2nd round, Italy lost another crucial match—to Romania when, bummer for Yang, up 2-0 against both Andrei Filimon and Adrian Crisan, he couldn’t add to Mondello’s win over Constantin Cioti. Some readers might recall that 10 years earlier Vasile Florea, now Romania’s National Trainer, had won our U.S. Open over South Korea’s current U.S. Open holder Oh Sang Eun.
But though Italy was almost certainly no longer in contention for the title they fought back against the Netherlands—their #3 Bobocica edging Barry Wijers, and Yang taking 5-gamers over the experienced pair of World #48 Danny Heister and World #33 Trinko Keen.
In a losing tie with Denmark that decided 5th/6th place, both Heister and Keen had been beaten in 4 by Maze, while Wijers, down 10-9 in the 5th to Martin Monrad, had been victimized by an unreturnable net ball.
Italy secured 4th place by downing Denmark, 3-2…but it was something of a pyrrhic victory, for following World #94 Finn Tugwell’s 11-9 in the 5th upset of Yang, Mondello downed Maze (in a Diego Schaaf photo shown chopping with a hammer grip)—after which Denmark’s “2005 Athlete of the Year” was apparently injured (though I’d not been made aware of it). He forfeited to Wang and indeed didn’t play any more the whole tournament. Monrad’s win over Bobocica was countered in the 5th by Mondello’s straight-game stop of Tugwell, Bronze winner in Doubles at the Athens Olympic Games.
In their key tie against Romania, Sweden got off to an encouraging 2-0 start when Karlsson downed Filimon 3-0, and Waldner, up 2-0 against World #18 Crisan, dropped the 3rd 12-10, and the 4th, but, warming to the crowd, eventually won a convincing 5th, then went down the line of his teammates shaking hands. Only now, a 3-match turnaround: Lundqvist was beaten by World #92 Cioti; Karlsson, after mis-serving with the ad, 15-13 in the 4th, by Crisan, the 2005 Pro Tour Brazilian Open Champ; and Waldner, battling back from two games down and 8-3 down to take the 3rd, 13-11, but then uncharacteristically not coming through a winner, by World #110 Filimon.
As the last ties were being played between Romania-Denmark, and Sweden-Netherlands, Romania’s record was 3-1. So even if they lost to Denmark they were still assured of finishing 2nd; for the only other team that could finish 3-2 was Sweden and the Romanians had beaten them head to head. Sweden was 2-2 and if they lost to the Netherlands, they’d be 2-3, tied with Italy and possibly Denmark unlikely to beat without Maze even a rather unmotivated Romania. But any tie-breaker with Italy or Denmark had already been decided on in Sweden’s favor, so the Swede’s last tie too was rather meaningless.
Actually, with the Romanians playing World #385 Lucian Filimon instead of Crisan, and Sweden playing World #96 Par Gerell instead of Waldner, both the favored teams were upset, 3-2. After Denmark’s World #76 Monrad had gotten the better of Cioti, the Filimon brothers gave Romania the lead, only to have Maze-substitute World # 217 Christian Larsen surprise Cioti 13-11 in the 4th and 14-12 in the 5th. Lucian Filimon had blanked Larsen, but, despite being 2-0 up on Monrad, the Romanian was not to be unbeaten in his debut, for he lost his last three games.
In Group B, as expected, South Korea, coached by 1988 Olympic Champion Yoo Nam Kyu, was dominant. Though World # 7 Oh was forced into the 13-11 4th by France’s Damien Eloi, a last-minute replacement here in Bremen for the injured Christophe Bertin; and World #8 Ryu Seung Min forced into the 13-11 4th by French lefthander Chila, the Koreans dropped only two matches. Croatia’s World #23 Zoran Primorac who, on losing the 3rd 12-10 to go down 2 –1 to Joo Se Hyuk, came right back to win the 4th 12-10 and the 5th at 6. Twenty-one years ago, Primorac had won the Junior Doubles at the European Youth Championships with our National Champion Ilija “Lupi” Lupulesku; now he was still strong enough to force Oh into the 5th. Shakehands chopper Joo was the chink in the South Korean armor? He lost another—to Japan’s World #49 Kali Yoshida. Wang Wei knew what I didn’t about 2003 World Men’s Singles runner-up Joo. That when he got out of the Korean Army he didn’t go back to his old club as required, but wanted to go elsewhere. For this, at the peak of his career, he was suspended, supposedly for 5 years, so he’s been playing in China…but now here.
Croatia, who next year would hold the World Championships in Zagreb, hoped to do better, but in a 5th-6th battle could only defeat Brazil. Though finishing without a win in their round robin, Brazil played three tight 2-3 ties. They were leading Japan 2-1 after their current National Champion Thiago Monteiro (who got better by traveling to international tournaments by himself, without coach or confidante) downed the Japanese National Champion Yoshida; and their #3 positioned Cazuo Matsumoto beat Taku Takakiwa. But their once stalwart Hugo Hoyama lost two matches without taking a game, and Monteiro (who, since he can’t make a table tennis living in Brazil, now plays in a French league), was up 2-1, but then fell 6 and 2 to World #64 Koji Matsushita.
Against Belgium, World #107 Monteiro split matches, winning against World #187 Martin Bratanov but losing to Philippe Saive, while Gustavo Tsuboi, in downing Yannick Voster, was putting Brazil ahead 2-1. But World #98 Saive (now taking on other t.t. duties like being the 2005 World Cup Director at Liege) was too good for Monteiro, and Hoyama dropped two goatish 5-gamers. Against France, Brazil was beaten in the first two matches by Eloi and Chila, then rallied when World #198 Matsumoto bested World #126 Sebastien Jover, and Monteiro had a great 11-9 in the 5th win over World #27 Chila. But again it wasn’t Hoyama’s day…or week.
France had an early, fortuitous 3-1 win over Belgium when Chila came from down 2-0 to beat the spunky Bratanov, and Eloi -15, 10, -6, 5, 2 finished off Jean-Michel Saive who, after his brother Philippe proved too formidable for Dany Lo, could not continue play. You see his 5, 2 ending against Eloi—J-M had pulled a muscle.
By winning a 12-10 4th game, and a 15-13 5th game from World #43 Rulwun Tan, the 36-year-old roadrunner Eloi (such energy, such passion for the game) got France off to a good start against Croatia, and, though World #73 Roko Tosic beat Jover in 5, Chila’s successive wins over Primorac and Tan proved decisive. After losing his 3rd straight deuce game to Chila, Primorac met the ball squarely with a primo dropkick.
Japan’s upcoming ties were crucial to its staying in contention. The first test against Croatia it passed—thanks primarily to World #133 Saiya Kishikawa’s 5-game upset of Tan whose racket then slashed open the off-court curtains leading to I believe the men’s changing room. He was going to change? Why Primorac was chosen to play only one match I don’t know, but he beat the much-touted 16-year-old, Jun Mizutani. That wasn’t enough though, for Yoshida, smacking balls left and right, downed both Tosic and Tan. Behind 2-1 and 7-4, Tan, disturbed by the 2nd net Yoshida scored against him, flipped his racket into a courtside barrier, and, while his coach called Time, was yellow-carded. On losing this game 11-7, he comes off court and, not to be consoled by his teammates or coaches, exits by throwing his racket against the nearest wall…then beyond the curtains does what?
Japan caught a break against Belgium, for J-M Saive wasn’t fit enough yet to play. But is it any wonder that back in Japan the media gives the Women’s team all the attention? Philippe Saive beats both Kishikawa and Yoshida, and Bratanov upsets Mizutani.
The last ties pit Croatia (1-3) against Belgium (2-2), and Japan (2-2) against France (3-1). Should Croatia win, they’d be 2-3, as would Belgium. Should Belgium win, they’d be 3-2 and Croatia would be out. Should Japan win, both they and France would be 3-2 (along with possibly Belgium). Should France win they’d be 4-1 and an automatic 2nd behind South Korea, while Japan would be 2-3 (along with possibly Croatia and Belgium). Got that? But you don’t have the possible tie-breaker matches/games/points yet, right? And, ohh, who wants them?
Some players who aren’t going to get them. Belgium beats Croatia: Bratanov stops Primorac cold (how quickly players all-out swing today—and how many mis-hits go skywards into adjacent courts); the injured J-M’s back and, with the help of a 14-12 3rd game, is toxic to Tosic; and Philippe, at 1-1 with Jiang Weizhong, gains the winning momentum via a 14-12 3rd game. France beats Japan—with elfin Eloi winning from Kishikawa and Yoshida and getting slap-happy hand-slaps from his teammates and a pat on the head from his coach, while Chila confidently loops and drops Matsushita back to his glum bench. So: advancing are France (4-1) in 2nd place, and Belgium (3-2) in 3rd place.
Group C results bring a Bye to the quarter’s for Germany—they don’t lose a tie. With one exception, which we’ll check out in a moment, they just give up a single match here and there: Norway’s World # 85 Wang Jianfeng, chopping and countering on the forehand, as defensive players do nowadays, defeats World #34 Jorg Rosskopf (but, ah, such fun to see 5-time Olympian Rossi backhand–in those low balls for point-winners); Austria’s 2003 World Champion Werner Schlager can’t beat World #2 Timo Boll, but he does do in World #40 Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth, as does Serbia’s 2003 U.S. Open Champion Aleksandar Karakasevic, confusing the German with deft touch placements and catching him off guard at match point with a fast serve down the forehand line. After winning each match, the German players wave to their admiring crowd who respond with hand-held rattles and horn-honks.
Polarized to Germany was hard-luck Poland who couldn’t score a win but game-try lost three 2-3 ties. They opened against #1 seed Austria—and when Lucjan Blaszczyk downed Schlager who was wearing his de rigueur black knee brace, and Poland’s #3, Daniel Gorak, won in the 5th over Robert Gardos, Polish hopes were high. From a Table Tennis Illustrated interview I learned that Blaszczyk speaks 5 languages, meditates before a match, and when asked to name his greatest disappointment in the Game, said, “None, I always try to be positive.” (No wonder his favorite film is “Braveheart.”) But then “Killer” Blaszczyk (who’d contest Boll with 10-12 and 11-13 games) went down docilely to World #9 Chen Weixing; and Wang Zeng Yi couldn’t stand up to World #14 Schlager.
Nor could Poland get by Serbia, for husky Karakasevic, bouncing in readiness like a boxer waiting for the opening bell to ring, was too much for both Gorak and Blaszczyk, and Slobodan Grujic finished Gorak 12-10 in the 4th. And, no, Poland couldn’t stop the Czechs either, for though World #69 Wang beat World #21 Petr Korbel in 4, and Gorak, if I may use the expression, goose-egged Martin Olejnik, Jakub Kobowski’s 5-game bid against Korbel failed, and World # 111 Marek Klasek finished as he started with a 13-11 in the 3rd win. In addition to losing to Germany, Poland also went down to 5th-place Norway when World #24 Blaszczyk was upset by both Erlandsen and Wang who also blitzed Gorak.
Serbia placed 4th—losing its crucial opening ties. First, to the Czechs whose Korbel was in control and whose 3rd man had to be better than what Serbia had to offer—either World #348 Bojan Milosevic or World #358 Boris Vukelic. Then in a no-chance tie it was beaten by Austria. “The curse of talent” someone said of Karakasevic as he was behind the 8-ball to Schlager. He lost 8, 8, 8—“just doesn’t want to work to be great.” Serbia did take Norway though—with Grujic bringing in two winners, “Kara” one.
The big positioning matches featured the Czechs against, first, the Germans, then, on an evening when U.S. International Umpires Chris Williams and Bill Walk would be officiating in Hall 1, the Austrians. Besides Korbel, the Czechs had the option of playing World #101, World #108, World #111, and World #190. They picked #108 Richard Vyborney to play the 3rd match, while #190 Antonin Gavlas would play the 2nd and 5th matches. Of course Boll figured to win twice, unless Korbel could work a near miracle—and the Czech did open well, beat a second German hope, 20-year-old Seuss who, on losing 11-9 in the 4th, rather gently pounded the table with his fist and received a mild ovation.
The Czechs saw no point playing Gavlas in 3rd spot against Jorg Rosskopf—and, sure enough, smart strategy, for Vyborney survived Rossi, his fans and the thumping racket of their dried-up balloons, in 5. But Korbel, who’s played for 10 different clubs, is now 34 and has an 8-year-old daughter, worked no miracle against the 2005 Pro Tour Grand Final winner Boll (who has this habit of wiping his hand on the table, a somewhat common practice our ITTF Rules Committee member Azmy Ibrahim, for one, wants stopped). So that left #190 rather than #101 Olejnik or #111 Klasek to win the day from #56 Seuss—which, as the German coaches and players rose from the bench with every winning Seuss point, Gavlas could not do.
Against Austria for 2nd/3rd place, Korbel again started well—beat Schlager (who at one point startled not only himself but everyone watching by shanking his serve). Next match, Vyborney went into the 5th with Chen, but didn’t win. After which Klasek went into the 5th with Gardos, but didn’t win. What might have been ended with Korbel’s straight-game loss to Chen.
Group D, with all six of its teams strongly contesting ties, got underway with two upsets. Slovakia, the #6 seed, upset the CHINESE/Taipei-jacketed #2 team—thanks to the Slovakian 3rd man Michal Bardon’s win over Chang Yan-Shu, and to World #81 Peter Seroda’s victories over World #26 Chiang Peng-Lung and World #12 Chuan Chih-Yuan, the 2004 U.S. Open runner-up.
The other upset—the most astonishing in Championship Men’s play—saw Belarus defeat Russia, 3-2. And this, despite only one win by World #5 Vladimir Samsonov—he beat World #47 Fedor Kuzmin 12-10 in the 5th (after almost blowing it from 9-5 up), then lost to World #29 Alexei Smirnov 11-9 in the 4th. The unlikely Belarus hero? World #415 Vitaly Nekhvedovich over Samsonov’s high-ranked opponents.
A word about Nekhvedovich. He’s long been a player, wears glasses (the great majority of players don’t, many of them being relatively young), and, as he reportedly drinks coke during matches, it’s not surprising he’s overweight. Belarus wasn’t going to
bring him to Bremen, but, in Samsonov’s absence (and apparently Evgueni Chtchetinine’s who had only one Pro Tour appearance in 2005), he won the Belarus National’s.
Table Tennis Illustrated Editor Ian Marshall interviewed Nekhvedovich after he’d played “like a man possessed,” and he said that, though this figured to be his last chance ever to shine, when he was up 6-1 in the 5th in the final match against Kuzmin and started to slip, he kept thinking he was going to lose. So he had to fight self as much as the Russian, and when he finally did win, shook his fists, trembled, and roared—said he felt “like an Olympic Champion.” His teammate, 3-time European Champion Samsonov, told Ian, “I’m so pleased for this guy.” And imagine how pleased you’d be if with some spare Euros you’d have felt like taking a chance and contacted Unibet. You could bet on the Men’s matches but not on the Women’s. A 100 Euro bet on Belarus would have gotten you 750 in return.
As it turned out, Slovakia, with only that one win, ended up last in the round robin. And yet they, too, gave Russia quite a fight—indeed, almost beat them. U-21 Qatar Open winner Seroda downed Kuzmin; the Slovak #3 Lubomir Pistej trampled as with his own troika Sergei Andrianov, European Cadet Boys Champion way back in 1990, and World #122 Bardon tried –10, -9, 11, 10, -6 mightily but couldn’t quite come back against Kuzmin.
Nor could Slovakia eke out a win over their cellar-rival Belarus. Just as Samsonov would be in top form against 1st-seed, 1st-place Hong Kong’s World # 25 Ko Lai Chak and World # 20 Li Ching, so he was here against Sereda, and in ruthlessly finishing off Pistej 11-3, 11-1. But against Belarus’s #3 Pavel Platonou, a distant World #520, Slovakia’s Barden, on being down 2-1, was equally vicious, kicking Platonou back into obscurity 11-3. 11-2. So how did Belarus win in the end? Through #415 Vitaly Nekhvedovich’s 8 in the 5th squeaker over World #113 Pistej.
Greece also had to struggle with Belarus because Samsonov destroyed Panaglotis Gionis and World #13 Kalinikos Kreanga. On serving, Kreanga’s repeated motion is to bend down over the ball, getting his face up close as if at a drinking fountain, to which he returns again and again, in many a match, many a tie—as with an unquenchable thirst. Vitaly tried hard to win the vital 5th from World #62 Gionis, but went down to the Greek’s long reach, 8, 14, 10.
CHINESE/Taipei, after losing its opener to Slovakia, righted itself with a 3-1 win over Russia. World #12 Chuan stopped Kuzmin, 11-3 in the 5th, and Chiang Peng-lung wouldn’t allow Smirnov a game. The other Chiang, Hung-Chieh, World # 193 but winner of an ITTF Junior Scholarship and holder of the last two Canadian Jr. Opens, almost made it a sweep, took Andrianov into the 5th, before Chuan was back blitzing Smirnov. Though CHINESE/Taipei would beat Belarus, 3-0—Chiang Peng-Lung over Samsonov in 5; Chuan over World #470 Aleksandr Kuchuk; and Chang over the –10, 4, 6, -12, 6 stubborn Nekhvedovich—it was Greece or Hong Kong they had to beat.
It wouldn’t be Greece: Gionis, slicing backhands and long-stroke sweeping in forehands, upset Chuan in 5; head-banded Kreanga, hands high in triumph, downed Chiang Peng Lung in 4; and net-lucky Ntaniel Tsiokas got by Chang 11-9 in the 5th. That straight-set loss might be a killer if four teams were tied at 2-3, still a possibility.
Hong Kong’s formidable penholder Li Ching, Wang Wei tells me, had played shakehands when on the National Team in China—in fact, she says, his strokes resemble those of 2-time World Champion Jiang Jialiang’s. So would the 4th-place pealing death knell for CHINESE/Taipei (2-3) sound with Li’s 12-10 in the 5th opener against Chiang Peng-Lung, and end with Li’s 11-9 in the 4th finish of Chuan? It would seem so…but maybe not.
Russia had rallied from its opening debacle to down Hong Kong 3-1. Cheung Yuk could beat Kuzmin but not Smirnov who also got by Li –13, 9, 9, 9. Russia’s big assist came from seasoned Dimitrij Mazunov, back again as the Russian Champion, who, up 2-0 against Chu Yan Leung, held on to win in 5 (when from 8-all Leung choked on his serve return, then ignominiously whiffed, and couldn’t recover). This loss didn’t hurt Hong Kong, but meant everything to Russia.
Hong Kong, with their 3-0 win over Slovakia (kudos to Pistej though for going 5 with Li Ching), posted a 4-1 record and so clinched the #1 spot and that important Bye to the quarter’s. But Russia (2-2) still had a meaningful last match with Greece (3-1). If Russia won, both teams would be tied and Russia, despite losing its first two ties, would finish 2nd because of its head-to-head victory over Greece. If Greece won, they’d be 4-1 but still finish 2nd because Hong Kong beat them head-to-head in their opening tie. (Only Kreanga with his spectacular backcourt backhand counters had scored against them—and it was fortunate for him that in the 5th Li Ching, down match point, had mis-served.)
If Russia lost, they’d be 2-3 tied with CHINESE/Taipei and Belarus—with significant consequences, for, the results of the tie-breaker, based on matches won/lost, would be: CHINESE/Taipei (6-2), Belarus (4-4), and Russia (2-6). CHINESE/Taipei therefore would back into 3rd and be assured of a Top 12 ranking, Belarus would finish 4th (and be assured of a Top 20 ranking), and poor Russia would tumble from 2nd to 5th, where if it lost its next single-elimination ranking tie, it could finish as high as 24th.
So did Greece win or did Russia? When World #62 Gionis started by upsetting World #29 Smirnov, and Kreanga followed with a 3-game win over Kuzmin, what do you think?…But Mazunov blanked Tsiokas (who spun his racket up like a juggler on losing the 2nd game at 9); and though Kreanga led 2-1, Smirnov, wresting the end-game offense, squeezed out an 11-9 in the 5th win; and Kuzmin wouldn’t let Gionis get into the match. Ergo, a 2nd-place finish for the Russians.
In the top half of the Single Elimination draw, it would be France vs. Belgium (the winner to play #1 seed China in the quarter’s), and Russia vs. Sweden (the winner to play Germany). In the bottom half, it would be Greece vs. Austria (the winner to play Hong Kong), and Romania vs. Czech Republic (the winner to play #2 seed South Korea).
France got off to a 2-0 lead over Belgium. Chila, holding firm, talking to himself, in the face of one of 2005 Pro Tour Grand finalist Jean-Michel Saive’s down 2-0 determined rallies, won in 5 (after which J-M could be seen in front of his bench ripping off his rubber sheets). Eloi, though losing the 1st 11-13 and the 4th 9-11, came back to take the 5th from Martin Bratanov. In winning that 4th game, Bratanov, down 8-9, scored with the fans by returning not just one ball but two while sprawled on the floor, then got up in time to tie it at 9-all. The last two straight-game balancing matches tipped the 3-1 tie to France. Belgium’s Philippe Saive won out over Sebastien Jover; and France’s Chila (once pretending he was gonna jump high to power down a lob but instead dropping it in for a winner) downed Bratanov.
Russia duplicated France’s start with a 2-0 lead over Sweden. Kuzmin put a stranglehold on Karlsson’s two-down rally to win in 5, and Smirnov tumbled crowd-king Waldner 11-2 in the 5th (a loss which still earned J-O a big ovation). Then after Lundqvist downed Mazunov to keep Sweden alive, Karlsson tried his best, but the best he could do was to gamely grab the 3rd at 9 before losing in 4. So not even a quarter’s advance for once mighty Sweden.
In the Greece-Austria tie, Russian Open finalist Kreanga’s 15-13 stretched-out 2nd-game win over Chen Weixing was key to his putting Greece’s best foot forward. But after that, all went backwards for the Greeks. Two 13-11 matches—by sharp-angler Schlager over the athletic, spin-changing defender Gionis, and Robert Gardos over Ntaniel Tsiokas (wasting a 10-9 comeback from 2-8 down)—set up Schlager’s convincing 3-game finale over Kreanga.
Marek Klasek, with two 12-10 winners contributing to his upset of Crisan in 4, got the Czechs off to the start they wanted. And, though Romania’s Cioti showed heart in not giving in to Vyborny, Korbel followed through with two easy wins over Filimon and Crisan to allow the Czechs their quarter’s entry.
China (3) over France (0) wasn’t the butcher-shop slaughter some might have expected. Nope, not even when Wang Liqin right away opened a 7-0 lead against Eloi, for he was 1-1 with him after just squeezing out that 1st game, 12-10. Eloi did get to 8-all in the 3rd—but a missed might-have-been-a-winner nixed his pesky threat. Question: when World #6 Chen Qi, just turned 22, lost that 1st game to World #140 Dany Lo, did that mean he’d again met his match? (Lo had beaten Chen at the 2005 Qatar Open.) But, uh, only 19 lost-points-later, the Answer: no. And 2-time World Singles finalist Ma Lin down 2-1 to Chila? How good—with a case of the jitters?—could Ma be? Just 13-11 in the 5th as good a showman as he had to be—racket-fanning himself and bringing his sleeve up to wipe the sweat off his face at crucial points.
Chila not only won a Bronze at the Sydney Olympics, but received, from French President Jacques Chirac himself, the “Chevalier de l’ordre national du merite” When Chila exits from the Hall, he’s besieged by autograph seekers, signs half a dozen times, moves a few steps on, is asked to pose for a photo with a kid as an alert parent with a camera takes advantage of the unusual opportunity, goes on a few more steps, signs another half-dozen or more autographs, and finally is allowed to break away.
Germany vs. Russia. Maybe the enrapt partisan audience would have liked a longer tie, so long as their guys won. O.k., suspense enough when Seuss lost the 1st at 9. But then, you might say, playing “to the nines,” he (9, 9, 9) won out over European Top 12 winner Smirnov (who’d been shown earlier on the giant screen above, scissors in hand, acceding to the umpire’s request to trim excess rubber off his racket). Against Kuzmin, Boll lost…easy, easy, just the 2nd game—and 12-10 at that. And now, when German Closed finalist Bastian Steger, World #50, took the 2nd, 13-11, to go 2-0 up on (a too anxious?) World #274 Kirill Skachkov, you know the crowd sensed their home team was a medal winner.
Still, give the struggling (“I have to work on the psychological aspect of my game”) Qatar Jr. Open winner credit. He didn’t go gently into the good night. First, he persisted in winning the 3rd 14-12. Then in the tight end-game 4th (where Steger put up a controversial hand urging a point play-over that to boos was denied, and which the covering cameras chose not to play back for the audience), Shachkov prevailed 12-10. So, alright, “Enough!” had to be the verminous thought that ran through the stands; we’ve had a little excitement, and one in which our guy didn’t get a fair shake, but let’s not blow this. And Steger doesn’t—to the 11-3 delight of, I guess almost everyone, for I never do hear the smallest pocket of Russian support, never see that first Russian flag wave. Before they leave the court, the German team lines up, lifts their arms up to the spectators as to those in a hallowed, heavenly Hall and receive homage in kind.
In the Hong Kong (3)-Austria (1) tie, Ko Lai Chak was a steady 3rd-position winner over Robert Gardos, while teammate Li Ching took on the role of scrappy hero, running 3-0 circles round Chen Weixing, and outlasting Schlager in 5. Often against Li Schlager seems comfortable lobbing the ball, waiting to get into curving counter-play, or moving in to win a point on a crack counter-placement. In their 2nd game, Li is faulted early for not throwing the ball up high enough, then, perhaps influenced by that call, on being down 10-11 he almost mis-serves, the ball just spinning over, then he does mis-serve to lose the game! Likewise in the 4th, at 11-all, Li mis-serves again, then swats a ball into the net to give the Austrian a 5th-game reprieve that…he can’t take advantage of.
Finally, the South Korea-Czech tie was from the first match on never tied. Oh’s a sort of gentle giant with a wife and two-year-old son. In a Table Tennis Illustrated interview he acknowledged that some people in his country eat dog. “I couldn’t do that,” he said, “I like to stroke the dog.” On opening 11-5, 11-3 against Malek, he then gave the Czech some 3rd-game 12-10 slack. Joo Se Hyuk, after dropping the 1st to Korbel, didn’t drop another. And the 2004 Olympic Champion, Ryu Seung Min, ended it all by allowing Vyborney a mere 20 points.
China-Germany—now this was the spectators’ climax to the tournament. Granted against Seuss the superbly fit 27-year-old Wang Liqin was 9, 10, 9 extended to winning close games, and granted against Fejer-Konnerth 2005/2006 Asian Champion Wang Hao wasn’t 5, 2, 8 extended at all, there was still the fans’ “Wunderkind,” Timo Boll, and, as Germany’s assisting “4th man,” the crowd—looking down into the arena rooting passionately for their iconic “TEE-MO!” By this time, though, “CHIN-a!” too had found banner flags and vocal support. Timo’s first match—against Ma Lin, selected to play Table Tennis 20 years ago, when he was a child in kindergarten, turned out to be a –6, -7, 3, 6, 5 dream-true turnaround—for to chants of “MA-lin! MA-Lin!” Boll runs out that 3rd game from 3-all. He’s on his way: spectators drum their feet, cheer and clap their man onward while thunderous music bursts in between games and at every “Time!” call.
Boll opens the 4th by hitting in a shot while falling on the seat of his pants. Ma must feel the pressure? Down 2-5 he jabs Boll’s serve into the net; down 5-6 he pops up the ball; down 6-7 he again fails to return serve. Boll ends the 4th on a net/edge. Opens the 5th with another edge. Takes over the offense while Ma blocks. Soon “CHIN-a!…chin-a” is drowned out by “TEE-MO!…Tee-MO!” When Boll wins and raises high his fist the roar is deafening. The crowd stands to the commanding lyric “Stand up!”…”Stand up!” Then, after Ping and Pong, in sync with the beat, merrily prance about with makeshift wooden racket in hand, it was crunch time—against Wang Liqin.
“TEE-MO!” of course had won accolades for beating Wang Liqin (along with Wang Hao and Ma Lin) in the 2005 World Cup. Now (as U.S. International Umpire Bill Walk calls the score in the slow, clear, no-mistake voice of regional America, so different from the European announcer’s loud, upbeat hype) he has a good chance to do it again—for, as I never saw players whiff so much, he evens the match by winning the 2nd game 13-11, and then the 4th 11-9. But—“Deutschland!” rings out the cry—though Boll and his bench are up 5-3, Wang’s powerful forehands take over for an 11-6 one-sided finish.
South Korea (3)-Hong Kong (0) hadn’t the exciting involvement-vibes of the China-Germany tie, but Oh’s 9, 9, 11 win (to cries along the way of “CHIN-a!”) over Hong Kong’s Cheung Yuk was, as little pockets of Koreans on both sides of the arena waved their flags, watch-worthy. Even more watchable was Ryu’s 9, -10, 9, 11 free-fire fight against the speedy Li Ching. (Before the match started, the umpire had checked Li’s racket against the appropriate sheaf-listings he had available at his umpire’s stand, and the rubber against the color measurement he’d pulled from his pocket.)
During the 2nd game, the Korean contingent started a cheer (“Whoooo”) that, echoing across the divide, sounded like (“WHOOOO”) a windstorm outside, or a table tennis ghost in the Hall. Following his win this game, Li did modified jumping jacks. Ryu, however, ends the match in the 4th with better moves—caught out of position, ball into his middle, he manages, falling away, to hit in a forehand winner. In the tie-deciding match, won by lefty current U.S. Open finalist Lee Jung Wu –6, 8, 9, 5 over Slovenia Open finalist Ko, the Hong Kong player starts 8-1 strong, ends 1-6 weak. All of which means that, for the first time ever, South Korea has made the Men’s World Team final. Let’s give ‘em a hand as they go where no Korean man has gone before.
But who among the 9,000 watching would pay to bet on China? Not even the Dome’s most honored guest—the Chinese Ambassador. Put up 1 Euro on China, you’d get 1.10 back. Put up 1 Euro on South Korea, you’d get 6 Euros back. The Magic Ball music brings out German flags and “Magic Dreams….”
Of course, you already knew—how could it be otherwise?—China was too alien-strong. Wang Hao opened 6, 8, 4 against World #7 Oh….And Ma Lin finished 9, 7, 7 against Lee Jung Woo. In between was sandwiched a meaty combination of Wang Liqin/Ryu Seung Min-play that, when all was spectator-consumed, Wang’s 8, -9, -8, 9, 7 win would vanish into memory, giving likely only a select few of those who’d watched food for thought.
By Tim Boggan
At the ITTF’s Apr. 26th Annual General Meeting in Bremen, the Japanese Association bid for and won the right to hold the 2009 World Championships in Yokohama. Their film presentation I and other delegates watched opens with a young girl who, alone, outside, picks up a table tennis ball. With her underplayed quizzical look she seems to ask, “What is this—this small round ball?” Since the area’s deserted, she must also ask, “This ball—where does it come from?” She turns, and there, looming up, is the façade of the Yokohama World Championship Playing Arena. To the girl, and those watching the film, the poetic meaning is clear. We wonder, “What does this building hold? Inside…what world is there?”
As I watch this illusion I’m reminded of the Japanese Haiku poem—“A giant firefly:/that way, this way, that way, this--/and it passes by”—that so greatly influenced my nearly too late and difficult decision to try at least to attend my first World Championship—in 1971, in Nagoya, Japan. Because that try was successful, it’s unforeseen consequences changed my life, and my family’s lives, for it opened the international world of table tennis to me, provided me with an intense psychic experience. Now, 35 years and 20 world championships later, I come to Bremen.
Here, thanks to the Liebherr World Team Championship sponsor, to ARAG, Europe’s largest sports insurance company and main sponsor for Bremen, to Donic and Tibhar, to Gerflor and China Unicom, and to all others who contributed to the success of the tournament, 45,000 of the 62,000 tickets available had been sold in advance by the time I arrived. I like to think that coming to watch these Championships were youngsters who on being introduced to the Sport would take inspiration from watching it—be swept up in the excitement, root for their home team to the thematic “Magic Ball” anthem, have a life-changing experience.
There are 24 countries in the Championship Division that, as 3-player vs. 3-player action begins in four 6-team round robin Groups, have a theoretical chance to win—though of course in the last 31 years China has lost the Women’s Team title only once…in 1991 to a (peacemaking?) joint team from North and South Korea. With their 5 players ranked in the World’s top 6, the Chinese appear to be insurmountable favorites. Indeed, their players are so well known, one remembers their rankings from their faces. As for the hundreds of other players, the number on their back corresponds to their world ranking—which makes it easy for the spectators to gauge their relative strength…that is, when the numbers, sometimes sloppily put on, don’t crinkle or curl up so as to be unreadable. Also, of course, a considerable difference in one player’s ranking over another doesn’t guarantee success.
As much Championship play as possible was held in the 4-table large #1 Dome Hall before thousands of spectators, enabled to tell who was beating whom by the modern computer scoring machines. Some inside distance away, past vendors’ booths, there was a practice hall, and, still further, the #2 Hall where on tables 5-40 the overflow ties were held. Donic provided the tables with their attractive underpinning blue underglow (makes the players’ legs look eerily pale though); Tibhar the white balls; and Gergflor the red Taraflex playing floor. Before each tie, the players were individually introduced, the names too often garbled by an otherwise effective announcer until our Diego Schaaf could stand it no longer and clued him in.
In their Group A opening round robin play, even China’s World Champions proved occasionally vulnerable. Right off the bat, 2000 Olympic Champion Wang Nan found herself down 2-0 to the Czech Republic’s World #68 Renata Strbikova, only to rally for a win from 10-all in the 4th. Then in 2nd-round action against Serbia’s Gordana Plavsic, World #182, the 28-year-old Wang was down 2-1 before righting herself. And 24-year-old current World and Olympic Champion Zhang Yining who, in opening with her backhand has a topspin lift that turns her into a toe-dancer, dropped an 11-2 game to Belarus’s World #78 Veronika Pavlovich. However, these were the only warm-ups China lost in moving out of Group A to 12-team Championship Single Elimination play where with a Bye they went directly into the quarter’s. This was a “perk,” as it were, given to all Group teams finishing 1st, while the 2nd and 3rd finishing teams had to play eighth matches.
At the other extreme in the A Group was India (only World # 225 Poulami Ghatak won a match—and yet later in a rather inconsequential tie with the U.S., to determine 23rd or 24th place, she beat our World #11 Gao Jun!). Ben Grigore, who not long ago had worked for the USATT, was Coach of the Indian Team here and at the Commonwealth Games where for the first time in the History of the Games an Indian, Sharath Kamal, won the Men’s. Ben told me that his Indian players went to eight 3-week camps a year, and annually attended 12 tournaments—6 to 8 of them Pro Tour events. So no wonder they were getting good enough to win something.
In coming 5th in the Group (“SRBIJA” read the backs of their Killerspin jackets), Serbia, led by the Erdelji sisters, fell to the other four teams challenging for a finishing 1-2-3 position that would allow them to continue to vie for the title.
One of two very big swing ties in the A Group came in the 2nd round when Belarus outlasted Romania 3-2 to eventually take 2nd place in the Group. With World # 15 defensive star Viktoria Pavlovich stopping Romania’s trying-to-be-patient Francophone Games winner Adriana Zamfir, and Viktoria’s 28-year-old twin sister World #78 Veronika Pavlovich upsetting World #18 Mihaela Steff Merutiu, Belarus jumped off to a 2-0 lead.
The players opposing one another in the 3rd match of any tie can only participate in that one match—which generally means they’re weaker than their two teammates who must alternate play. Daniela Dodean, 2005 European Youth Champion, saved the day for Romania (at least for the moment), winning in 5 against Belarus’s Tatyana Kostromina. Then up came Viktoria, only to go down, 11-9 in the 4th, to Steff who’d just kept pummeling away as if afraid to play any other way. Again, though, Veronika, after losing the 1st to Zamfir, 13-11 (game-point down she served a tricky fast one…long), rose to the occasion, winning in 4 from a precarious 10-all in the 2nd.
The other big swing came in the 3rd round when Romania, leading 2-0, was knocked out of contention, 3-2, by the Czechs who would finish 3rd behind China and Belarus. Again Steff didn’t live up to expectations, for though she edged Jana Dobesova 12-10 in the 5th, she then lost 12-10 in the 5th to Strbikova. Maybe she needs to forget about table tennis for a while, take a vacation trip to one of her favorite “exotic islands”? Also going down in a killer 5th game were the Romanians Dodean to Iveta Vacenovska and Zamfir to Dobesova. I think it was in this tie that the Romanian coach was ejected and that when another took over and counseled his player, someone wondered whether, once the original coach had been forced to leave, Romania had the right to substitute another.
Group B’s 5th seed, France, got into contention by downing the otherwise undefeated #1 seed Hong Kong—with World #111 Carole Grundisch, as if with her own “Magic Ball,” surprising the strong twosome of World #12 Lin Ling and World #8 Tie Yana, while World #285 Sarah Hanffou took out World #27 Zhang Rui. After this rather unbelievable tie, anything seemed possible.
France, though losing decisively to 2nd-place finisher North Korea, who’d remain unbeaten except for a tie-breaker loss to Hong Kong, then stayed in contention with a 3-2 win over Poland and a 3-1 win over CHINESE/Taipei (as the backs of the players’ jumpsuits emphatically had it). Against Poland, who stepped up from the basement by besting CHINESE/Taipei, France’s Grundisch could only win one, but defender Fang Xian Yi, World #125, added the needed two, upsetting World #76 Xu Jie. I’d heard Fang had been living in Normandy for 9 years, but it was not the French who’d approached her about playing for them, but she who’d sought to be on their team. Against CHINESE/Taipei, Russian Open U-21 finalist Grundisch again came through with two gutsy 11-9 in the 5th matches—over Huang Yi-Hwa (a later winner in a positional tie over our Gao Jun) and Lu Yun-Feng who also lost to Fang.
Hungary, meanwhile, with its losses to top seeds Hong Kong and North Korea, would now be in a 5th-round death-struggle with France to survive. Since France had only one loss, a win over Hungary would give them a 4-1 record, the same as Hong Kong and North Korea. But 3rd was the best the French could do, as the tie-break (in matches) favored Hong Kong (4-3), North Korea (3-3), and France (3-4). Although Hungary had two losses, if France lost to them, they’d each have a 3-2 record and again the French would come up short in the head-to-head tie-breaker.
When Grundisch won the opener in 5 over Hungary’s World #61 Georgina Pota, and especially when Fang, after being down 2-0, upset World #23 Krisztina Toth (in an embarrassing 3, 2, 4 collapse), the French were exuberant. But then came the reversals: Hanffou lost a bloody, 8, 15, 9 3rd match to Petra Lovas; Grundisch, on being up 9, 1 on 2005 Pro Tour Russian Open Champion Toth, saw the Hungarian veteran redeem herself by winning the next three; and 21-year-old Pota, after losing the 1st game to Fang 18-16, quickly recovered to run out the match. Exit France—though contesting superbly.
Group C opened with a bang. Parents and kids were enthusiastically waving German flags. As one fellow said, #2 seed Germany couldn’t have had a better start. They beat the 6th-seeded Netherlands 3-2. That was good? Yes, because, first, though the Germans had been down 2-0, both Nicole Struse, their #1, and Jiadio Wu, their World #40, had showed great fighting spirit—Struse losing -9, -7, 12, 17, -8; Wu losing -8, -4, 6, 9, -5. And, second, because following these reverses, Germany rallied—with 32-year-old Elke Wosik keeping her straight-game momentum by taking the 16-14 2nd game; Wu rebuilding her confidence with a gritty -9, -7, 8, 9, 8 win over World #25 Li Jiao; and former European and Top 12 Champion Struse finishing off Elena Timina in the clutch 5th. A real team effort, much appreciated by the screaming fans.
As for #1 seed, South Korea, their opening 3-1 struggle against Austria was a harbinger of things to come, for, though their World #9 defensive star Kim Kyung Ah won her two matches 3-0, World #57 Park Mi Young, also a defender (long pips on the backhand, reverse rubber for countering on the forehand), was 12-10 in the 4th hard-pressed to stave off World #24 Liu Jia, while Austria’s World #185 Veronika Heine did win a 15-13 in the 5th squeaker over World #27 Moon Hyun Jung.
South Korea also downed Germany 3-1, when only Wosik (at one point slapping the table on missing a shot) could win her match against the 24-year-old Moon. Struse lost to Kim in 4 and Park in 5 (11-2, 11-2 in the 4th and 5th games) while flag-bearing Korean supporters did a “Whoooo” vocal “wave” that jumped from one side of the arena to the other.
Austria, who’d finish 2nd, had a harder time with the Netherlands than with Germany. Liu beat Timina -10, 8, 12, 9, and then Li after being down 2-1; while Heine had to take the 4th and 5th before finishing off World #239 Linda Creemers.
Against Germany, Austria won 3-0, but the tie was contested: Struse lost to 2005 European Champ Liu Jia 11-9 in the 5th (the 3rd straight loss to her, as indefatigable ITTF statistician Jean Jacques Hubermann informed me), and Wosik lost to Heine, also in 5. (Her Coach having been red-carded, Wosik, down 4-0 in the 5th, irritably “retrieves” a ball by batting it backward between her legs to Heine’s side of the table).
Though 3rd-seed Italy ended up 5th, downing only last-place finisher Australia (who’d later blank our U.S. younger players), their World #47 Nicoletta Stefanova took down Germany’s Wu; and their World #37 Tan Monfardini Wening had excellent wins over both Park and Kim. Italy also fought fiercely against the Netherlands—in fact, looked to be victorious when defender Tan took two and Stefanova, 3-time U-21 winner on the 2005 Pro Tour Circuit, was leading 2-0 in games in the 5th match against an apparently outclassed Creemers…only to see the 200-point differential become meaningless as Creemers rallied in an 11-7, 11-9, 14-12 thriller. This was a big blow to Italy—their last chance for contention, for, had they won this last match, there was still a chance they could beat Austria and advance over 3rd-Place Germany in a three-way 3-2 tie-breaker.
The Netherlands fought furiously against South Korea—Li Jiao’s 12-10 in the 5th win over Park Mi Young forced the tie into the 5th. But even if they’d beaten the Koreans, a 3-2 tie-breaker would have knocked them out of the top 3, while the loss given the Koreans wouldn’t have affected their #1 position over Austria and they’d still have had a Bye to the quarter’s. Similarly, though Austria lost their last tie to Italy, the Italians could do no better than 2-3, so Austria’s 3-2 record with a head-to-head tie-breaker win over Germany still gave them 2nd place.
In Group D, the #1 seeds, the Japanese, posted a 15-1 record, losing only their opening match when the current Russian Champion, World # 55 Svetlana Ganina, picking well from her forehand, upset World #17 Ai Fukuhara. (It was Fukuhara, with her up-close-to the-table game, short pips on the backhand, who allowed our Nan Li to show really professional poise, for, on meeting her (Ai!), Nan was quickly down 8-0. She got the next point to ironic applause, and from there lost the game at 6. Then she followed by winning the next before losing in 4.)
Japan’s 3-0 win over Singapore might have been thought more of a bubble than a blood bath. But such is not the case: Haruna Fukuoka defeats Zhang Xueling, 11-9 in the 5th; Fukuhara, bobbing up and down as on an invisible pogo-stick, then goes on court to defeat World #4 Li Jia Wei, 11-9 in the 5th; and lefty penhold ball-angler Saki Kanazawa defeats Xu Jan, 11-6 in the 5th.
Japan was also pressed by Croatia, intent on making a good showing to attract spectators to next year’s Zagreb World’s, but Fukuhara’s 13-11 3rd game helped her to beat World #7 Tamara Boros in 4; Kanazawa got by Cornelia Vaida when down 10-9 in the 5th Vaida took the right shot…but one, alas, that missed, earning her only a consoling pat on the cheek from her coach; and Fukuoka, largely on the strength of a 15-13 3rd game (though it’s followed by a 4th in which she’s behind 9-0!), downed Sandra Paovic in 5. Thus Japan, like the other best-record teams, was spared eighth’s play, and moved directly to the quarter’s. One could see their players off court snuggled up to the Ping and Pong mascots, posing like smiling children for a group photo.
The # 6 seed, Slovakia, and the #5 seed, the USA, finished in these respective positions, for when the two teams met, successive wins by Gao Jun, followed by Jasna Reed’s -8, -9, 9, 11, 7 clutch comeback in the 5th, enabled the Americans to score a 3-2 victory. Actually both teams had other chances for success. The Slovakians gave a 5-match scare to the Croatians when World #69 Eva Odorova opened with a win over World #90 Vaida, then downed 2006 European Top 12 winner Tamara Boros in 5. Against Russia, the USA, sparked by Gao Jun’s wins over Irina Kotikhina and Oksana Fadeeva, came close to turning the tie, for Jasna, now a scholarship student at Texas Wesleyan pursuing a Master’s degree in Education, lost a tough 8, -13, -12, -9 match to World #40 Fadeeva.
Croatia won a very important 2nd-round tie over Singapore—from down 2-0. Thanks to two 12-10 games, World #85 Xu Yan was able to beat Boros—winning that 4th game from 10-6 match point down and taking a 5-1 lead in the 5th for a 10-1 run. However, Vaida, playing in 3rd position, after losing a 12-10 game to go down 2-1, regrouped to keep Croatia alive. Boros then gave her team a lift by besting World #4 Li Jia Wei. And Paovic straightaway stopped Xu.
Singapore rebounded with a 3-2 victory over Russia. After Kotikhina, married now and with a 2-year-old son, had taken out Tan Paey Fern, and Ganina had ended Zhang Xueling’s hopes, Russia led 2-1. But 2005 U.S. Open winner Li Jia Wei could not be stopped, and Tan, though down 1-0 and at 11-all in the 2nd, won the points she had to. This loss hurt Russia badly.
Russia went on to defeat Croatia in the 5th round—with Ganina beating both Vaida and Boros (13-11 in the 5th), and Kotikhina winning the 4th and 5th games in the 5th match. A very good effort, but not quite good enough. There ensued a 3-way tie-breaker to see who’d be 2nd and 3rd behind Japan. When the matches turned out to be 5-5 for all three teams, Croatia was declared best in games won/lost (24-20), Singapore next (19-20)—and Russia (19-22) was out of contention.
Single Elimination Eighth’s
The Single Elimination draw shapes up as follows: first, China, the Group A winner and #1 seed, and Hong Kong, the Group B winner and #2 seed, are positioned at polar opposites; then South Korea is drawn into China’s semi’s position and Japan into Hong Kong’s. All four have Byes. Then the teams finishing 2nd are randomly inserted. Followed by the teams finishing 3rd, also randomly inserted. The Eighth’s match-ups then are as follows: Singapore vs. North Korea (the winner to face China); Belarus in a repeat match vs. Czech Republic (the winner to face South Korea); Hungry vs. Croatia (the winner to face Japan); and Germany in a repeat match vs. Austria (the winner to face Hong Kong).
In the Singapore-North Korea tie, the first three matches are nail-biters. In all three, players come from behind to win. Singapore’s 2004 Asian Cup Champ Li Jia Wei, taking the 4th and 5th (at 9), downs Ko Un Gyong. Mi Yong Kim balances by besting Singapore’s Zhang Xueling, 8, -9, -9, 9, 10. Xu Yan, down 2-0 to Ryom Won Ok, gives Singapore the lead by winning the 3rd and 5th games 14-12! But then Kim beats Li, and Ko beats Zhang in anticlimactic straight sets to give North Korea the win.
The Belarus-Czech tie is almost an exact replica of their round robin one: Strbikova again stops Veronika Pavlovich 11-7 in the 3rd for the Czech’s only victory. Kostromina again finishes Smistikova in the 4th; and Victoria Pavlovich again prevails 6-1 in games over Stribikoa and Vacenovska.
All matches in the Hungary (3)-Croatia (2) tie are decided 3-0 with the exception of Paovic’s 4-game win over Hungary’s Lovas. Boros, favoring a high-toss serve (she leans slightly back when ready to make contact, so, as the racket whips through, it won’t whip into her stomach), won the close ones—13, 6, 9, against Toth, and 11, 10, 4 against 2-time Pro Tour U-21 winner Pota—but for Croatia to survive their #1 needed help and she didn’t get it. Boros, 28, said if she hadn’t become a professional table tennis player she would have studied biology. (Is it too late to do that?)
The tie of the greatest interest in this Eighth’s round was of course the repeat German-Austria one in which the pro-German spectators hope the now different opening choice of players might work to avoid the earlier 3-0 Austrian victory. Germany starts with Kristin Silbereisen, rather than Struse, against Liu, and, as the 21-year-old German beat her last time out in the Brazilian Open, it looks as if she might win again. But up 2-1 and 9-7 in the 4th she falters and is forced into the 5th. Still, encouraged by repeated rhythmic claps from the stands, and spinning, crouching away from the table, fist up on won point after won point, she brings it to 8-all. Then she gets a net. Chance is good to Germany. But she gives the point right back with a timorous block. Don’t choke, Kristin! Oh, she pushes a ball back high and Liu properly whacks it—but misses! Then, gulp, Liu pushes her serve return into the net. Match to Silbereisen—who falls to her knees, hands to heaven.
Next up: the 35-year-old current and 8-time German Champion Nicole Struse against Li Qianbing who in a few days will celebrate her 21st birthday. Li would like a big present now. Struse didn’t win, but it was a 9, -10, 9, -10, -9 great spectator match—marred by the umpire’s highly controversial call at an extremely inopportune time that so upset me, the protesting players and coaches, and any number of others—many booing and whistling, many just shaking their head in silence and later complaining about it privately over drinks or dinner. Surely some mechanism for redress should be in place other than an immediate and in this instance ineffective appeal to the Deputy Referee in charge. How many Referees would feel it safer to avoid Controversy by not becoming involved, rather than to urge, or even insist, the Umpire change his judgment call?
The Programme and Struse’s past had certainly prepared the Umpire for his call. For Struse speaks of how “I give everything to win. I just mustn’t overdo it”; while the interviewer adds, “With the help of a psychologist, she is trying to control her outbursts, feared by both friend and foe.” Still, in this instance…
Struse, partly hyped by Silbereisen’s unexpected win and her own 9, -10, 9 encouraging start against 2005 European Top 12 Champ Liu Jia (marred momentarily by some idiot taking a flash photo that, stopping Struse, drew from her a disapproving look and boos from the spectators), had rallied from 8-10 down in the 4th. So, wired, as any sports figure would be when she tied it up at 10-all, gave fist-up excitement toward Li in the spirit of competition…only to be faulted for—what?—abusing her opponent! This call was so silly, so pernicious, so devastating to the psyche of the whole German team and their fans that it really amounted to the umpire not being impartial but taking sides. The fault was his. If ever an umpire lacked common sense it was this one. If ever an umpire wanted to kill the drama inherent in Sport—what photographer after photographer soul-searches for, that makes for Table Tennis Fascination—it was this one. He dishonored his calling and the Spirit of competition with this absurd charge.
The question is: what to do about it so that no blue badge umpire can exert such wrongful judgment and unfair power in the future? What recourse has the really offended player, the player’s team, and the players’ fans? Some act of “civil disobedience,” on court or off, by people with heart, wearing a red badge, a badge of courage, outraged at the insensitive injustice, was, and is, in order. And would it be too much in this day and age of increasing money prizes and ranking points to expect a show of old-fashioned sportsmanship on the part of the Austrians? Who, true to the Spirit of competition, would want to take this point?
The players, being professionals, tried to regroup. Problems doing this probably for the Austrians as well as the Germans. Understandably Struse, stunned, her rhythm and concentration broken, did not win this 4th game, or the 5th.
Nor did Wosik, up 2-0 and then 9-3 in the 4th, win from Heine. In that 4th, she went into, as she said, a “blackout” where, as the German fans desperately clapped (meaning “Dammit, let’s go!”), point after point got away from her. Tied at 5-all in the 5th, she fell into the soft, half-paralytic play (her “lead-arm loop” someone said) that had befallen her before and lost 5 straight and the match. “One of the darkest moments of my career,” she said afterwards.
Nor did Struse even take a game from Liu whom earlier she’d battled to 9-11 in the 5th. She’d gotten to 10-all in the 3rd, but then served into the net, and ended by taking a forehand that didn’t come close to the table.
Anyone expect China, with its little band of (“CHIN-a!”) rooters to have trouble against North Korea?…Results: Zhang Yining over Ko, 3, 7, 3; Guo Yue over lefty all-out swinger Kim Mi Yong, 2, 9, 5; and 3-time World Cup winner Wang Nan (seen having a splinter removed from her finger before play) over Kim Jong, 8, 3, 3.
Belarus over South Korea, however—that figured to be contested. The Koreans played World #21 Moon in the 3rd spot, I assume for the expected “sure win”, and she did her part by downing Kostromina, catching her repeatedly on beautiful drops. That left the burden on World #9 Kim Kyung Ah to take two, or, failing that, for World #57 Park to chop down World # 78 Veronika Pavlovich. No surprise when World #15 Viktoria Pavlovich, in very good form, opened with a 3, 5, 6 win over Park.
But then, ah, Veronika—what impression have we of her? Has she got a prayer against the steady Top 10 Kim Kyung Ah? Although Veronika has her sister’s wonderful defense to practice her attack against, I didn’t think she could loop hard enough to get through 2005 Korean Open Champ Kim. But gradually she’s proving me wrong, winning the 1st, and taking a 7-6 lead in the 2nd before dropping 5 straight points. At 1-1 in the 3rd, Kim in the backcourt reaches and chop-returns an angled-off hit, then, hurrying, gets back for the drop, and afterwards is aggressive enough to take over the offense and win the point. Very impressive. Even more so is the point they play at 9-all—with the crowd erupting as Kim, though nearing 30, keeps making marvelous gets and Veronika persists in her unrelenting attack. When Pavlovich wins the 3rd at 9, there’s an upset in the making?
Only again Kim, up 6-3 in the 4th, has a 5-point run. The 5th looks to be more of the same as Pavlovich takes her timeout early and is down 5-2. But Veronika catches Kim at 5-all, goes ahead 8-6, is back even at 8-all, ahead 9-8—all with more superlative climax-building attack and defense play. Then both players are cautious. Kim has some high balls that she doesn’t topspin hard and Veronika, not wanting to pick one to counter, makes an error. Of course at 9-all it’s either girl’s game, and with more pressure on the favorite perhaps it’s not surprising that Pavlovich scores the upset. She half runs, half jumps wildly round the court and is embraced and kissed by whoever can reach her.
With Belarus up 2-1, and Viktoria heartened by her sister’s great effort, South Korea is no longer the favorite. We now have a match between two primarily defensive players (judged to be pretty even, though Kim, 3-time 2005 Pro Tour circuit winner, had beaten Viktoria in the final of the Brazilian Open) and, as neither tries to avoid playing under the Expedite Rule, in due course in the 1st game it comes in, just after Pavlovich has gotten a net to go up 8-6. But when in a succession of points, Viktoria errs, Kim serves and catches her on a surprise 1st-ball drop, and Pavlovich builds to a point-getter but misses, the Korean is up 9-8. Again Kim tries to catch Viktoria on a drop but this one’s too high and Pavlovich socks it in. Then, surprise, Viktoria serves and boldly smacks in the return; after which Kim nets the ball.
In the 2nd, Pavlovich is up 7-3, down 8-7, but then another of her always dangerous counters goes in. On, evenly, they go, as their Expedite strategy dictates, to 12-all. Here Kim fakes a hit and drops instead…into the net. Pavlovich calls Time, then comes back to score a winner and shake a perhaps careful fist. In the 3rd, at 8-all, Kim starts looping the ball higher, moves to 9-8. And now Pavlovich is lucky: Kim almost gets her on a drop, forces up a high ball, but can’t put it away. Viktoria goes ad up, match point, and finishes with an edge. Pandemonium! Tears of joy!
Will any other seeded team be upset? Not Japan. They’re 3-0—er, make that 3-1—winners over Hungary…for, according to the final posted results, Pota did not lose 11-9 in the 5th but instead blanked, really blanked, 11-0, 11-0, 11-0, Fukuoka, silencing those little-girl squeals of delight as she scored on her jumping-bean serves. Blanked her? Silenced her? What happened?
Well, here’s the cautionary racket control warning that had been issued by the ITTF Equipment Committee to all the teams: “All players and captains are reminded that brand-new coverings should be aired for at least 48 hours before their first use. It is not sufficient just to cut or to open the plastic cover: the rubber must be kept outside so that the sponge is completely uncovered and can release the remaining banned solvents.” Fukuoka’s racket was tested after she played Pota—the solvent released was 120 parts per million over the accepted limit, and she was disqualified. An ironic mistake for the Japanese to make since they’re aware they’re regularly getting the best and freshest rubber Butterfly has to offer.
Although Fukuhara (having outlasted the scorekeeping cards’ ability to show the correct score) loses the 1st 18-20, it’s her victory in the 5th over the still smooth-stroking but now relatively slow-moving Toth that makes it easier for her teammates to win. Fukuhara makes sure Pota doesn’t really win even a game; and Kanazawa with, as Wang Wei tells me, her “Chinese stroke,” 2, 2, 4 annihilates Lovas (afterwards I learn that Kanazawa, now a Japanese National, did indeed play in China—from 1982-88).
Hong Kong, too, wins 3-1 over Austria. Liu Jia, in a fight for the offense, helped by an edge ball at game point in the 3rd, prevails over Hong Kong’s former World runner-up Lin Ling in 5 in the opener. But when Heine loses the big 13-15, 10-12 swing games to 2005 Asian Championship finalist Lau Sui Fei, Tie Yana’s last 6 scores, 8, 3, 4, 7, 4, 8, leave no doubt that Hong Kong’s the advancer.
One loser in the semi’s is wild with delight. There’s no play-off for 3rd/4th—Belarus has won a Bronze. That Viktoria Pavlovich gets an 11-9 game from China’s 17-year-old Guo Yue, only player to have beaten 4-time World Cup winner Zhang Yining in a 2005 Pro Tour tourney, is a bonus.
The Hong Kong (3)—Japan (2) tie, however, is very hard fought. Fukuhara opens with a late-game charge—down 7-5 against 2-time Asian Champion Lin Ling she runs it out. Lin looks listless, loose in contrast to her opponent’s short, compact, concentrated oneness with the ball. The Hong Kong star does win the 3rd, but in the 4th is 8-1 hopelessly down. Ah well, Lin’s been playing since she was 6, is 28 now and ready to go to Shanghai University to study Business Management. Tie Yana, after losing her two opening games (the 2nd at 13-11) to Kanazawa, who relies on a feint movement in her serve motion as the ball drops, and who comes at you with a forcing backhand, is at a turning-point in the 3rd: is 10-11 match-point down. Whereupon, fanning herself with her racket, she keeps her cool, scores, and after play stops for a mobile phone going off, socks in Kanazawa’s serve, wins the game, and goes on to Tie the tie into 1-1 balance.
Continuing the momentum, Hong Kong’s Lau goes up 2-0, but then back the pendulum turns and Japan’s Fukuoka, barely able to see over the table when she finishes her squat serves so effective against Lau, rallies to run out their match. Tie, who with her come-from-behind win had prevented a Japanese sweep, now proves too 11-3 in the 4th strong for Fukuhara whom she’d beaten in the final of the 2005 Asian Cup, and the tie is tied at 2-all. After which, Hong Kong Lin’s 9, 5, 4 win over Kamazawa results in a disappointing Bronze for Japan.
What’s this? After ITTF Pro Tour Grand Final winner Zhang Yining’s routine 4, 9, 6 win over Lin (who got off to a befuddled start—was faulted on her first two serves and down 6-0, 10-1), China’s vaunted invulnerability takes an untimely hit. That is, Tie, who comes from Mainland China like her teammates, outplays last year’s World Mixed Doubles Champion Guo Yue in a seemingly never-ending thriller, 23-21 in the 4th! Guo was leading in this game 8-4, and though up 10-9 (with a high ball to hit in), 11-10, 12-11, 13-12, didn’t score the clincher. O.K., so China lost a match. A fluke outcome?
But then 3-time World Champion Wang Nan loses the first two games (12-14 in the 2nd) against Lau Sui Fei, and is teetering at the 10-all precipice in the 3rd. Wow! (CHIN-a! CHIN-a!) As a line from that “Magic Ball” anthem has it, “Everything is magic.” Can the unthinkable happen?…No. For the pressure here is a reminder of Wang’s very first match against the Czech Strbikova, and as she’d pulled that one out, so does she this one where there’s so much more at stake. She ends the 3rd by looping in Lau’s serve; gives us great clutch play from 8-all in the 4th to win at 8; and from 3-0 down in the 5th takes 11 straight!
Crisis averted, Zhang, imperturbable superstar (“No weakness, and no nerves,” I heard someone say), finishes off the valorous Tie, 8, 3, 3.
Oh, you wanted to bet on China? Sorry, that wasn’t allowed.
2006 LIEBHERR World
Team Championships
Bremen, GER ∙
Apr. 24-May 1, 2006
Men’s Teams
Final
China d. South Korea, 3-0: Wang Hao (CHN) d. Oh Sang Eun (KOR), 6,8,4; Wang Liqin (CHN) d. Ryu Seung Min (KOR), 8,-9,-8,9,7; Ma Lin (CHN) d. Lee Jung Woo (KOR), 9,7,7.
Semifinals
China d. Germany, 3-1:
Timo Boll (GER) d. Ma Lin (CHN), -6,-7,3,6,5; Wang Liqin (CHN) d. Christian
Suss (GER), 9,10,9; Wang Hao (CHN) d. Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth (GER), 5,2,8; Wang
Liqin (CHN) d. Timo Boll (GER), 8,-11,7,-9,6.
South Korea d. Hong Kong, 3-0: Oh Sang Eun (KOR ) d. Cheung Yuk (HKG), 9,9,11; Ryu Seung Min (KOR) d. Li Ching (HKG), 9,-10,9,11; Lee Jung Woo (KOR) d. Ko Lai Chak (HKG), -6,8,9,5.
Quarterfinals
China d. France, 3-0: Wang Liqin (CHN) d. Damien Eloi (FRA), 10,-9,4,8; Ma Lin (CHN) d. Patrick Chila (FRA), 7,-4,-9,8,11; Chen Qi (CHN) d. Dany Lo (FRA), -8,3,9,7.
South Korea d. Czech, 3-0: Oh Sang Eun (KOR) d. Marek Klasek (CZE), 5,3,12; Joo Se Kyuk (KOR) d. Petr Korbel (CZE), -4,5,6,8; Ryu Seung Min (KOR) d. Richard Vyborny (CZE), 6,7,7.
Germany d. Russia, 3-0: Christian Suss (GER) d. Alexei Smirnov (RUS), -9,9,9,9; Timo Boll (GER) d. Fedor Kuzmin (RUS), 7,-10,5,6; Bastian Steger (GER) d. Kirill Skachkov (RUS), 6,11,-12,-10,3.
Hong Kong d. Austria, 3-1: Li Ching (HKG) d. Chen Weixing (AUT), 6,9,8; Werner Schlager (AUT) d. Leung Chu Yan (HKG), -6,6,8,6; Ko Lai Chak (HKG) d. Robert Gardos (AUT), 4,5,-6,7; Li Ching (HKG) d. Werner Schlager (AUT), 8,-10,9,-11,9.
Women’s Teams
Final
China d. Hong Kong, 3-1: Zhang Yining (CHN) d. Lin Ling (HKG), 4,9,6; Tie Yana (HKG) d. Guo Yue (CHN), 8,-9,9,21(!); Wang Nan (CHN) d. Lau Sui Fei (HKG), -7,-12,10,8,3; Zhang Yining (CHN) d. Tie Yana (HKG), 8,3,9.
Semifinals
China d. Belarus, 3-0: Guo Yue (CHN) d. Viktoria Pavlovich (BLR), 6,6,-9,6; Zhang Yining (CHN) d. Veronika Pavlovich (BLR), 4,7,7; Wang Nan (CHN) d. Tatyana Kostromina (BLR), 2,4,4.
Hong Kong d. Japan, 3-2: Ai Fukuhara (JPN) d. Lin Ling (HKG), 9,6,-7,4; Tia Yana (HKG) d. Saki Kanazawa (JPN), -7,-11,11,6,6; Haruna Fukuoka (JPN) d. Lau Sui Fei (HKG), -9,-7,7,8,7; Tie Yana (HKG) d. Ai Fukuhara (JPN), 6,-5,7,3; Lin Ling (HKG) d. Saki Kanazawa (JPN), 9,5,4.
Quarterfinals
China d. North Korea, 3-0: Zhang Yining (CHN) d. Ko Un Gyong (PRK), 3,7,3; Guo Yue (CHN) d. Kim Mi Yong (PRK), 2,9,5; Wang Nan (CHN) d. Kim Jong (PRK), 8,3,3.
Hong Kong d. Austria, 3-1: Liu Jia (AUT) d. Lin Ling (HKG), 9,-5,10,-4,6; Tie Yana (HKG) d. Li Qiangbing (AUT), -7,8,3,4; Lau Sui Fei (HKG) d. Veronika Heine (AUT), -9,13,10,3; Tie Yana (HKG) d. Liu Jia (AUT), 7,4,8.
Belarus d. South Korea, 3-1: Viktoria Pavlovich (BLR) d. Park Mi Young (KOR), 3,5,6; Veronika Pavlovich (BLR) d. Kim Kyung Ah (KOR), 7,-7,9,-4,9; Moon Hyun Jung (KOR) d. Tatyana Kostromina (BLR), -9,9,7,7; Viktoria Pavlovich (BLR) d. Kim Kyung Ah (KOR), 9,12,9.
Japan d. Hungary, 3-1: Georgina Pota (HUN) d. Haruna Fukuoka (JPN), def.; Ai Fukuhara (JPN) d. Krisztina Toth (HUN), -18(!),7,3,-8,6; Saki Kanazawa (JPN) d. Petra Lovas (HUN), 2,2,4; Ai Fukuhara (JPN) d. Georgina Pota (HUN), 6,7,8.
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