China Alight,Brazil Heartbroken for Lost BidThe all-mighty Chinese women crushed Hungary to set up a semifinal clash with hosts Japan while Brazilian city Rio de Janeiro lost its desperate bid for the 2003 World Individual Table Tennis Championships Thursday in Osaka.Only months after a new 40mm ball was introduced, wholesale changes to the scoring system and serving rules were approved by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) at their annual meeting. Chinese world top three -- Wang Nan, Li Ju and Zhang Yining proved too strong for their Hungarian rivals, winning the quarter- final in just 77 minutes. China will on Friday play Japan, a 3-2 cliff-hanging victor over Romania. South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which had failed to send a "Unified Team" to Osaka despite efforts by the sport's world ruling body, will clash in the semifinals. South Korea downed Singapore 3-1 and DPR Korea subdued last championships runners-up Chinese Taipei 3-0. The ITTF annual meeting awarded the 2003 Individual Championships to Paris and the 2004 Team Championships to Doha of Qatar. Rio de Jenairo, which had opted out of the campaign for the Team Worlds to leave Doha the only candidate, got only 47 votes against Paris' 73 in the two-city fight for the Individual Championships. Service rules change, jointly proposed by England and the ITTF Rules Committee, mandates that players keep their serves "open and visible without any hiding of the ball", said ITTF president Adham Sharara. "You can even serve behind the body as long as you keep the two angles clear," he added. Sharara hinted Chinese Kong Linghui and Belarus' Vladimir Samsonov played fair and square in the 2000 Olympic Games. About 80 percent of Kong's serves and 90 percent of Samsonov's in the Sydney Games fit the new change, said the president. Sharara said Swedish veteran Jan-Ove Waldner, known for deceptive serves, would find it difficult to adapt to the new rule, which will be put into effect from September 1, 2002 The ITTF meeting also passed an ITTF Executive Committee's proposal to use the new scoring system of 11 points for each set, ensuring additional drama in tighter matches. The new scoring system will go into effect from September 1, 2001. The ITTF chief said that the sets number of the match, best of seven or best of nine, will be left to the Technical Committee to decide. |
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