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Big Ball Knocks off Olympic Gold Medalist
Sydney gold medalist Kong Linghui of China and silver medalist Jan-voe Waldner were both upset on Thursday in their first group matches at the 21th men's table tennis World Cup, which introduced the big ball of 40 millimeters in diameter for the ever first time.
Two weeks ago in the Sydney Games, Kong beat Waldner 3-2 in a thrilling final to win the men's singles' gold medal with the original smaller 38mm ball.
Kong, ranked first in the world, went down to the 8th ranked Zoran Primorac of Croatia in 21-9, 23-21 in his first group A match earlier in the afternoon.
Kong was defeated again in the evening when he lost his second match to the 6th ranked Chiang Peng-Lung of Chinese Taipei in 24-22, 21-14.
"I was too tired after the tough play in the Olympic games and I had no time to take the adjusting training with the big ball before the tournament," Kong told Xinhua after his winless first day competition.
Sydney Games silver medalist Waldner had the same problem as Kong when the Swedish first was outplayed by younger compatriot Peter Karlsson in 23-21, 22-20 and 18-21 in the afternoon.
The 38-year-old legend then could not match with Chinese attacker Ma Lin, who won the games 21-17, 21-14 in the evening.
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