Tuesday, September 18, 2007
5:59 PM
Asian Championship 2007 - Women's Team reached Semi-Finals
Singapore succeeded in the closest of the Women's Team quarter-final contests to book their place in the semi-final stage at the Asian Championships in Yangzhou, China on Tuesday 18th September 2007. In a gruelling contest they prevailed by three matches to two against Korea with Wang Yue Gu being the backbone of success.She beat both Kim Kyung Ah and Park Mi Young with the one further win coming from Sun Bei Bei. In the third match of the proceedings she defeated Kwak Bang Bang.
Success for the Commonwealth champions was hard fought with Korea fielding two of the very best defensive players in the world, Kim Kyung Ah and Park Mi Young. Both beat Li Jia Wei.

"Li Jia Wei has not been well and she is recovering from illness" explained Singapore coach Liu Guozheng. Yesterday she wasn't comfortable when she played and she didn't play to her level; however, we must take into account that we played China, the best in the world. Playing China is difficult for anyone and for Li Jia Wei, who originates from Beijing, very difficult. She won the Women抯 Singles event at the recent Chinese Taipei Open but, other than that result, she has not enjoyed the best of fortunes in 2007. "She gave her best but she wasn't quite herself today" continued Liu Guodong. She had to play two defenders today and she tends to let them dictate the play rather than dictating the play herself.

However, for Wang Yue Gu, who also faced the two defenders it was a different tale. "Wang Yue Gu dictates the play against defenders, that is the difference between her and Li Jia Wei" explained Liu Guodong. "Today I thought that Wang Yue Gu was very good. Wang Yue Gu has a particularly strong backhand, the side of the racket on which she uses short pimples. She played cleverly today, intelligently" continued Liu Guodong. "She was patient, she changed the direction of the play well and the amount of spin she put on the ball; tactically she was excellent. Start and Finish" Liu Guodong had every right to be pleased with Wang Yue Gu, she gave Singapore a splendid start by beating Kim Kyung Ah in three straight games and she concluded matters by doing the same against Park Mi Yong. The two wins by Wang Yue Gu were absolutely vital and so was the success of Sun Bei Bei, playing in the number three position.

"Sun Bei Bei was quite good today" said Liu Guodong. "Earlier in the year she had some very good results on the ITTF Pro Tour and today she did well. She had to play with the scores level and her win over Kwak Bang Bang was achieved in impressive style. She won in three straight games. 揗entally Sun Bei Bei was good today" explained Liu Guodong. She was well prepared and thorough in her play.

In the semi-finals China meets Hong Kong whilst Singapore faces Japan




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