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Wang Rallies to Takes Men's Singles Gold
Wang Rallies to Takes Men's Singles Gold
Wang Liqin, once a mixture of best technique and weak nerves, pulled off a courageous comeback and beat fellow Chinese Kong Linghui in the men's singles final at the World Table Tennis Championships on Sunday in Osaka.
Wang played safe at the beginning as he chose to rally until his opponent made errors or left an opening. The tactics didn't work and Wang lost the first two sets in 20 minutes.
The setback seemed to jolt Wang into action as he tore into his opponent with determination in the third set and won 21-16.
He showed no mercy in the rest two sets and although Sydney Olympic champion Kong tried to put up a fight, the 23-year-old Wang won 11-21, 11-21, 21-16, 21-13, 21-13.
The win completed the individual event schedule and signalled the end of the world championships where all seven titles, two in the team and five in the individual events were won by China.
"I'm using my brain more," said Wang afterwards. "I think I am better than Kong in spin and strength of strokes. After the second set I told myself to be more aggressive."
Chinese head coach Cai Zhenhua blasted Wang as "a player with best skills and weakest mentality" in the 1999 World Cup where he was shut out of the quarter-finals.
Already ranked as world number one, Wang lost favor with Chinese coaches and missed the men's singles competition of the Sydney Olympic Games.
Wang was benched in China's nail-biter 3-2 win over South Korea in the men's team semifinals here because the lanky Shanghai man, as a coach said, "couldn't take responsibility".
However, Wang proved his ranking in men's singles, beating
Polish hard-hitting Lucjan Blaszczyk, former world champion Jorgen Persson of Sweden and South Korean "Fighter" Kim Taek Soo in his way to the final.
Earlier, Wang Nan/Li Ju beat Sun Jin/Yang Ying in the all-Chinese women's doubles final.
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