Chinese paddlers strike first
Top Chinese paddlers drew first blood at the new Olympic venue yesterday, cruising into the next round of the International Table Tennis (ITTF) Pro Tour Grand Finals at Peking University Gymnasium.
China's Ma Lin, the top men's seed, beat Kan Yo of Japan 4-0 in the opening match. On the women's side, Athens Olympic champion Zhang Yining survived a scare from Tie Yana of Hong Kong, while China's other Olympic champion, Wang Nan, also advanced.
The veteran Ma said the match against his former teammate Kan was very difficult.
"It was a tough match," said the current world No 1, who outplayed Kan 11-7, 11-9, 15-13, 12-10. "Kan used to be on China's national team with me and he maintains a good form. So the match was quite close."
Ma will face Timo Boll of Germany today. Boll defeated his compatriot Dimitrij Ovtcharov 4-2 in yesterday's first round.
Currently the world No 6, Boll is the highest ranked non-Chinese player and is regarded as a major threat for China at next year's Beijing Olympics.
"For the Beijing Games, I don't worry about the home court advantage of Chinese players because many Chinese people also like me and they will clap for me as well. I think most of the pressure will go to Chinese players," said Boll.
On the women's side, Athens gold medalist Zhang went through a seven-set thriller to defeat Tie 4-3.
"I am not happy with my performance tonight. I am used to Tie's new playing style. I was too anxious to win," she said.
(China Daily 12/14/2007 page24)
