Sunday, November 22, 2009
9:41 PM
Asian Championships - Bronze for Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu
Singaporean paddlers Feng Tianwei and Wang Yue Yuegu settled for the Bronze Medal in the Women's Doubles Event bowing out to the World's best defending pairing of South Korea's Kim Kyung Ah/Park Mi Young. Feng and Wang made too many unforced errors, causing them to lose narrowly by a margin of 4-3. The increased ability of the Koreans to attack, especially in the guise of Kim Kyung Ah, proved a decisive factor in the crucial seventh game; mostly the Koreans relied on stonewall defence but the relatively infrequent attack from Kim Kyung Ah came at exactly the right time in the decider. It took the score from 7-6 to 8-6 and put the pressure on the Singaporeans; they made mistakes and patience had prevailed.

Earlier, Feng and Wang defeated another pair of defenders - China's Fan Ying and Wu Yang, to enter the Semi Finals successfully.

Meanwhile in the Women's Singles Event, Wang Yuegu put up a great fight against World Cup Champion Liu Shiwen. Fast counter attacking play was the order of proceedings; Wang strong from the backhand made full use of the table, spreading the direction of player. Fleet of foot, Liu Shiwen responded; the speed of the rallies, the reactions of he players; the forethought of anticipation bringing sighs of adulation from the crowd. Liu Shiwen captured the first two games, the third went to Wang but then the sheer speed of the Chinese teenager prevailed. The next two games went Liu's way and a semi-final place was reserved; furthermore, Liu made sure that all four players in the penultimate round were Chinese - Ding Ning, Li Xiaoxia and Fan Ying.

Feng Tianwei, Sun Beibei and Yu Mengyu suffered early defeats. In the Round of 16, the current World No. 5 lost to the soild defence of Chinese Fan Ying. Similarly, Sun Beibei lost to the World's best defender, South Korea's Kim Kyung Ah. On the other hand, Yu Meng Yu was the casualty of Hong Kong's Jiang Huajun. Teenager Sim Kai Xin Zena lost to Hong Kong's Yu Kwok See April in the 2nd round.

In the Men's Singles Event, Gao Ning and Cai Xiaoli was ousted out in the 4th round. Gao Ning lost to China's rising star, Ma Long while Cai was defeated by eventual winner, China's Ma Long. Yang Zi suffered in the hands of Hong Kong's Jiang Tianyi in the 3rd round. Pang Xue Jie managed to reach the second round before losing to host nation's Chakraborty Sourav.

Things were not going smoothly in the Men's Doubles Events as well. Cai Xiaoli/Pang Xuejie lost to Taiwan's Chuang Chih-Yuan/Wu Chih-Chi in the 3rd round. Also in the same round, Gao Ning/Yang Zi was upset by South Korea's Seo Hyun Deok/Kim Min Seok. Their Women counterparts, Sun Beibei/Yu Mengyu suffered earlier round defeats as well. They lost to the the left and right pairing of Kim Jong/Kim Hye Song from North Korea.

Singaporean paddlers all crashed in the 3rd round of the Mixed Doubles Event. Gao Ning/Feng Tianwei lost to South Koreans Jeoung Sangeun/Seok Ha Jung. Yang Zi/Wang Yuegu lost to the mysterious North Koreans, Jang Song Man/Han Hye Song. Cai Xiaoli/Sun Beibei and Pang Xuejie/Yu Mengyu were ousted out by Chinese opponents. Cai and Sun lost to Top Seeds, Ma Long/Li Xiaoxia, whilst Pang/Yu were defeated by Wang Liqin/Wu Yang.

Below is the list of winners for the respective categories.
Men's Team - China
Women's Team - China
Men's Singles - Ma Long (CHN)
Women's SIngles - Ding Ning (CHN)
Men's Doubles - Ma Long/Xu Xin (CHN)
Women's Doubles - Ding Ning/Li Xiaoxia (CHN)
Mixed - Doubles - Ma Long/Li Xiaoxia (CHN)




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