Zhang Fights Back to Save China's Match-winning Record

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, October 02, 2002

Zhang Fights Back to Save China's Match-winning Record

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China's world cup holder Zhang Yining fought her way back from two games down to a 3-2 victory against Song Ah Sim of China's Hong Kong, defending her team's record of losing not a single match in the team group preliminary of the 14th Asiad table tennis event Wednesday in Ulsan.

After this match, the triumphant Chinese has almost secured their top place in Group A, though they still have one match to play on Wednesday against the South Korean hosts, who on Tuesday suffered a 1-3 upset from Hong Kong.

Zhang, who looked a bit tense at the beginning of her encounter with the world 60th Song, conceded two games in a row at the same score of 9-11. But the world No.2 quickly adjusted herself to stage a great comeback.

Earlier in the afternoon, China's top player Wang Nan also played a very close match against Singapore's Li Jia Wei before scoring a 3-2 win.

But Wang displayed her full strength facing Hong Kong player Lau Sui Fei, crushing her opponent 3-0 really fast.

China's world No.6 Niu Jianfeng finished the kill by beating Hong Kong's Kwok Fong Fong 3-0. Niu was the last of the five-member all-star Chinese squad to appear on court for the preliminary matches. Niu's teammates Guo Yan and Li Nan played in the first two matches respectively, while Wang and Zhang took partin all three matches.

"This was Zhang's first encounter with Song and I think she hadn't prepared enough for it. Actually this (inadequate preparations) has been one of her weaknesses for a long time," said Li Xiaodong, the Chinese coach. "Still, it was not bad that she could fight back and win the match."

The Chinese were actually a bit surprised by the match lineup of the Hong Kong team, which, probably seeing no hope of upsetting China, had rested their top player, the world 18th Tie Ya'na and sent out Song instead.

The Chinese men's team, which was expected to have their first group match on Wednesday afternoon against Kuwait, gained an easy victory as their opponents failed to show up. The Kuwaitis also gave up their match with Qatar on Tuesday for unknown reasons.

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