Star players stunned at National Games

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Star players stunned at National Games

(Global Times) 08:34, September 10, 2013

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Reigning world men's table tennis singles No.1 Zhang Jike suffered a stunning upset at the hands of 16-year-old Fan Zhendong at the men's singles quarterfinals, while Olympic women's singles silver medal-winner Ding Ning also crashed out at women's singles quarterfinals on Monday at the 12th Chinese National Games in Anshan, Northeast China's Liaoning Province.

Zhang took the lead in the first and second sets with 8-7, but failed in both sets at 8-11.

A 6-0 run helped him restore some pride in the third set with an 11-4 score, but then Fan won the fourth again with 11-8. After securing the fifth-set win, tired Zhang tried his best in the sixth set but Fan's fourth 11-8 win ended the match.

Zhang, who represents Shandong Province in the ongoing event, received a shoulder injury in the team event against the People's Liberation Army team on September 2. But he said his injury was not to blame for his defeat.

"The injury was not a big deal, but my training over these two days has not gone very well," Zhang said. "It was just Fan's game, he performed better than me. I moved slower than him in the first two sets which resulted in a loss, and it's hard to come back when I feel I can't play as I wish to.

"I think this match was my best one in this event. I only had some chances and in the sustained rally I didn't catch up and then lost the match."

Zhang also indicated Fan is improving, "I have played against Fan several times, and he has made a good progress. I hope he can step forward in further rounds."

Zhang swept Fan 4-0 in the third round of the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships in Paris in May.

Former world champion Ding, who represents the Beijing team, was beaten by 19-year-old Chen Meng of the Shandong team 4-11, 5-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-9, 12-10 and 11-13.

Ding suffered an ankle injury at the fifth set, but she insisted she never considered giving up.

"The result was brutal," she said tearfully. "An unexpected injury during the match made me muddled. Then I just wanted to be calm and continue to play at the table until the end of the match.

"If I could rate myself on my performance, the first three sets were failed ones, but I would give myself full marks at the rest of the match."

Ding also indicated that too many matches in a few days had made her feel exhausted.

On Saturday Ding won the mixed doubles event with Ma Long as Beijing defeated Guangdong.

Ding's opponent Chen said after the match, "Ding plays not only in the women's singles but also women's doubles as well as the mixed doubles, which certainly exhausted her."