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Sunday, April 26, 2009

6:36 PM

World Table Tennis Championships - Wang Yue Gu face Singaporean Jinx

The draw for the 2009 Yokohama World Table Tennis Championships was conducted at 1400 hours (1500 hours in Japan Time). Our Singapore paddlers receive a generally well draw.

Gao Ning, Yang Zi and Cai Xiao Li are drawn into the Main Draw directly due to their World Ranking. However, Gao Ning and company may perish in the first few rounds of the event. As allocated by the draw, Gao Ning will be facing China's penhold grip player Xu Xin in the 2nd round, whilst Yang Zi is likely to take on Japan's No. 1 paddler Mizutani Jun. Cai Xiao Li will have to cause an upset in the 1st round before meeting Olympic Gold Medalist and World No. 2 Ma Lin in the 2nd round.

In the Women's Singles Event, Feng Tianwei and Wang Yue Gu are expected to reach the Quarter Finals. Feng will have a smooth sail until the Round of 16, where she is likely to meet South Korean Defender Park Mi Young. If she can repeat the victory in the Beijing Olympic Games, she will be facing China's Guo Yue in the Quarter Finals. However, Wang Yue Gu will have to face Belarus' Pavlovich Viktoria. Wang has to be worried about this lady as she was the one to oust out Feng, Yu Meng Yu and Sun Bei Bei all in one Pro Tour Open. Sun Bei Bei and Yu Meng Yu will be striving to achieve their personal best in this competition. Sun finished in the Round of 32 in the previous occasion while Yu is participating in the event for the first time. Without much surprise, Both Sun and Yu should reach the Round of 32. Their opponents in the Round of 32 are Li Jiao from Netherlands and Austrian Liu Jia respectively.

Local youths Pang Xue Jie, Sim Kai Xin Zena and Li Siyun Isabelle will be playing the qualifying stage.

In the Doubles Event, Gao Ning and Yang Zi should not have any problem reaching the Quarter Finals. However, their results will have to depend on the condition of Yang Zi, as he may not have fully recovered. Feng Tianwei/Wang Yue Gu and Sun Bei Bei/Yu Meng Yu are likely to succeed to the Quarter Finals as well. Feng/Wang may even win a Bronze Medal if they can overcome Hong Kong's Jiang Huajun/Tie Yana. Sun/Yu will face a more stringent test, as their opponent in the Quarter Finals is South Korea Top Defensive Pair, Kim Kyung Ah/Park Mi Young. Kim/Park is ranked as China' No. 1 Opponent in the Doubles Event.

In addition Cai Xiao Li/Pang Xuejie and Sim Kai Xin Zena/Li Siyun Isabelle will be competing in the Qualification Stage.

The Mixed Doubles Event is another opportunity for our paddlers to clinch medals since China is sending a batch of relatively young and inexperience paddlers to compete. However, many countries have also see it as an opportunity for them, and has increase their training in the Mixed Doubles. Gao Ning/Feng Tianwei is our highest medal hope in this event. Their first opponent is Japanese Teenagers Niwa Koki/Morizono Misaki, and they will only meet China Players in the Quarter Finals. Also, Yang Zi/Wang Yue Gu are likely to reach the round of 16 where they will meet 5th Seed, China's Hao Shuai/Chang Chenchen. Both Pang Xue Jie/Sun Bei Bei and Cai Xiao Li/Yu Meng Yu will take on China's Xu Hui/Peng Luyang and Xu Xin/Fan Ying in the round 2nd round.