Table tennis pros to vie for year end honors

Home>>Sports

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 11, 2003

Table tennis pros to vie for year end honors

World champion Werner Schlager may find himself in an unusual underdog position as the ITTF Pro Tour table tennis finals starts on Thursday.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

World champion Werner Schlager may find himself in an unusual underdog position as the ITTF Pro Tour table tennis finals starts on Thursday.

The Austrian, who has been troubled with injuries since his championship run in Paris in May, will face Chinese upstart Chen Qi in the first round of the 240,000 US dollars tournament. The men's and singles winners will pocket 38,000 and 26,000 dollars respectively and each can drive home a Volkswagen Beatle.

Chen, whose giant-killing run in September brought down then world number one Timo Boll of Germany and Chinese Taipei's Chuan Chih-Yuan, is expected to give a difficult time to Schlager, who failed to nab a sole title in the 2003 Pro Tour season.

China's World Cup holder and world number Ma Lin and Sweden Open champion Wang Liqin will take on Jens Lundqvist of Sweden and South Korean Ryu Seung-Min respectively in the first round.

Chuang Chih-Yuan, ranked third in the world, will clash with hard-hitting South Korean Eun Sang-Eun, who possesses a lethal forehand attack.

In the women's singles draw, Asians outnumber Europeans 14-2, with only Croatian Tamara Boros and Austrian Liu Jia representing Europe.

Eighth-ranked Boros was only the fourth European in three decades to make the world championships women's singles semi-finals in Paris and will fight a lonely battle here. Her first round rival is Liu Jia and that means Europe will be down to one in the quarter-finals.

Six Chinese made it to the finals. They are Zhang Yining, WangNan, Guo Yan, Niu Jianfeng and Guo Yue, who have swept the world top five rankings, and number nine Li Nan.

Hong Kong, China has five representatives in the finals - Tie Yana, Song Ah Sim, Lin Ling, Zhang Rui and Lau Sui Fei.

Ko Lai Chak and Li Ching from Hong Kong, winners at Croatia, Brazil and Germany, are top seeds in the men's doubles and the Chinese duo of Chen Qi and Ma Lin, champions in South Korea, Chinaand Japan, are seeded second.

In the women's doubles, China's Guo Yue and Niu Jianfeng, a dominant force in the women's doubles with four Pro Tour titles this year, and Olympic champions Wang Nan and Zhang Yining are odds-on favorites for the championship final.

Champions of previous ITTF pro tour grand finals

Following are the champions of previous ITTF pro tour grand finals:

Men's singles:

1996: Kong Linghui, China

1997: Vladimir Samsonov, Belarus

1998: Wang Liqin, China

1999: Liu Guozheng, China

2000: Wang Liqin, China

2001: Ma Lin, China

2002: Chuang Chih-Yuan, Chinese Taipei

Men's doubles:

1996: Wang Liqin/Yan Shen, China

1997: Kong Linghui/Liu Guoliang, China

1998: Wang Liqin/Yan Shen, China

1999: Kong Linghui/Ma Lin, China

2000: Wang Liqin/Yan Shen, China

2001: Kim Taek-Soo/Oh Sang-Eun, South Korea

2002: Ma Lin/Kong Linghui, China

Women's singles:

1996: Deng Yaping, China

1997: Li Ju, China

1998: Wang Nan, China

1999: Cheng Jing, Chinese Taipei

2000: Zhang Yining, China

2001: Wang Nan, China

2002: Zhang Yining, China

Women's doubles:

1996: Deng Yaping/Yang Ying, China

1997: Li Ju/Wang Nan, China

1998: Li Ju/Wang Nan, China

1999: Li Ju/Wang Nan, China

2000: Sun Jun/Yang Ying, China

2001: Lee Eun-Sil/Ryu Jihua, South Korea

2002: Li Jia/Niu Jianfeng, China

Questions?Comments? Click here

Guangzhou to host 2003 ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals in December

Wang Liqin claims title at Swedish Open

US TV dump charges not just a biz spat: Analysis ( 4 Messages)

China not to tolerate splitting Taiwan from motherland: Premier ( 3 Messages)

Trade war? A buying spree for cheap Chinese goods ( 3 Messages)

Moon probe to blast off in 3 years: Chief scientists ( 2 Messages)

Bush strategy: Spend now, pay later? ( 35 Messages)