World champions shut out of ITTF Pro Tour Finals

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, December 12, 2003

World champions shut out of ITTF Pro Tour Finals

World number one Ma Lin was eliminated from the first round of the ITTF Pro Tour Finals in Guangzhou Thursday.

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World number one Ma Lin was eliminated from the first round of the ITTF Pro Tour Finals in Guangzhou Thursday.

In the man's singles, the Chinese top seed was beaten by unknown Jens Lundqvist of Sweden, 31st in the world rankings, 11-4,11-13, 9-11, 10-12, 11-8, 9-11.

Before the game, most people including some experts thought that it would be easy for the World Cup holder and top-ranked Chinese player to win. When Ma won the first set 11-4, most people seemed to see Ma had walked into the a Volkswagen Beatle car with the trophy in hand.

However, since the beginning of the second set, Lundqvist speeded his strike back, which made Ma feel uneasy. Taking the advantage in speed, the Swede began to control the game more easily, and grabbed his chance to win the second and third sets, 13-11 and 11-9 respectively.

Since Ma had lost two sets, the forth set became crucial for Ma, who did seem fit tonight. Even with best effort to win more points through wily strikes, he still could not find his right way to stop the Swede's fast speed. After losing the forth set 12-10, more sweat made marks on the shirt of the Chinese.

Even when Ma won the fourth set for a set score at 3-2, Chinese national team coach Liu Guoliang knew the luck was not on Ma's side tonight. Liu called a break, which still could not give Ma any chance to bring the game back. The world number one was eventually ousted after losing the fifth set 11-9.

After the game, Lundqvist said: "Fantastic! It is the first time I beat world number one. It is the most important victory of my career."

"Yesterday when I got the information that I would play world number one, I felt a little bit disappointed. When the game started, I was nervous, but after winning one set, I gained confidence. At the crucial moment, I just concentrated to win the game, and I succeed," Lundqvist added.

Chinese coach Liu said: "Ma Lin had never played with Lundqvist. Ma did not prepare well for this game. Hope we will play better in the two days to come," he added.

World champions Wang Liqin and Werner Schlager also suffered defeats yesterday. Olympic champion and world No 2 Wang lost to Ryu Seung-Min of South Korea in seven-set thriller, while the rising Chinese star Chen Qi outplayed Schlager 4-1 on the first day of the table tennis "Masters Cup" of the year.

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