Asian Cup table tennis: Chinese duo seal maiden titles, World Cup berths
Ahmedabad: China’s Zhu Yuling and Lin Gaoyuan claimed their maiden Asian Cup table tennis titles at the TransStadia here on Sunday.
The world no. 29 Lin pulled off the tournament’s biggest upset defeating compatriot, world no. 2 and two-time champion Fan Zhendong 4-2 (11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5).
In the women’s final, world no. 3 Zhu dispatched the much-experienced and defending champion Liu Shiwen 4-3 (6-11,11-9,11-8,10-12,11-7,11-13,11-6) in 75 minutes in front of a packed stadium.
In addition to the winner’s purse of $7,000 each in cash, the duo secured spots in the World Cup, which is slated for next month.
World no. 4 Liu, four-time World Cup, thrice World Tour Grand Finals and four-time Asian Cup champion, was billed the favourite to win but Zhu’s solid performance was too good for her.
Such was the dominance of the 22-year-old that she didn’t drop a single game till the semi-finals and topped Group A in the first stage. It was Zhu’s first major senior level title.
Zhu lost the opening game against Liu, who has been among the top two in the world rankings from 2012 to 2015, but quickly tightened her play to clinch the next two games.
Liu remained on Zhu’s heels and levelled the match 2-2 with well-placed returns.
The sixth game, longest of the final, witnessed the opponents matching each other stroke for stroke.
They were tied at 11-11 but Zhu bagged the next two points to stretch the match into the seventh game. Zhu won the deciding game and the match as Liu failed to return a well-disguised shot.
Later, the left-handed Lin played well within himself, not giving away easy points to Fan in a tense battle.
Unlike the women’s final, this match had fewer rallies as the two preferred to go for the kill from the very beginning. Fan tried his best to match Lin but once the latter went 3-2 up, the task proved too uphill.
In the third-fourth playoff, South Korea’s Lee Sangsu outplayed Chen Chien-An of Chinese Taipei 4-1 (11-7, 11-7, 10-12, 11-3, 12-10) in the men’s section while Japan’s Kasumi Ishikawa edged past compatriot Miu Hirano 4-3 (9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-3, 9-11, 11-8) in the women’s playoff.
