Hong Kong, Dec 13 (IANS) South Korea’s Lim Jong-hoon and Shin Yu-bin cruised past China’s Olympic champions Wang Chuqin and Sung Yingsha in straight games in the mixed doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Finals on Saturday. With Sun having suffered an injury in the women’s singles competition, the reigning mixed doubles world champions found it difficult to keep up with their opponents’ pace.
After an 11-9 loss in the opening game, Wang and Sun took four consecutive points to pull back to 9-8 in the second, but the South Korean duo regrouped to win 11-8. The second seeds continued their good form, prevailing 11-6 in the third game to secure their title.
Earlier in the day, an ankle injury had forced Sun to pull out of her women’s singles semifinal against compatriot Kuai Man.
Kuai clinched a 12-10 victory in the third game for a 2-1 lead, before Sun called a medical timeout to deal with her ankle pain. After returning to action, the world No. 1 levelled the score with an 11-7 win in the fourth game, reports Xinhua.
However, Sun’s ankle continued to hamper her. After losing the fifth game 11-3, she withdrew from the contest, sending Kuai into the title showdown.
“After going through many matches, I had already felt the lack of supporting strength in my feet in the first game, and the pain increased in the third,” Sun explained.
“I hoped to deal with it well and continue to play. Despite winning the fourth game, I found it hard to move in the fifth, especially on the forehand.
“I wanted to compete in the mixed doubles final. Though the result was not satisfactory, we did go all out,” she added.
In another all-Chinese affair in the women’s singles, second seed Wang Manyu sailed past Chen Yi 11-9, 11-3, 12-10, 11-8.
“As we are quite familiar with each other, this match was more about adjustments on the court,” Wang said after her win. “I was patient in the match. Whether leading or trailing, I could deal with it and tried to make adjustments to score points.”
Recovering from his mixed doubles semifinal defeat along with Kuai, Lin Shidong triumphed 4-0 in an all-Chinese men’s singles quarterfinal against Xiang Peng. Second-seeded Lin set up a semifinal clash with Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto, who escaped with a win over France’s Felix Lebrun in a seven-game thriller.
“I played Harimoto not long ago. Looking at our head-to-head record, I’m not the favourite,” Lin noted. “I hope to go into the next match with humility and show everything I’m capable of. I’ll give my best to see how I can learn from him.”
The other men’s semifinal pits Wang Chuqin against Sweden’s Truls Moregard.
As the season-ending tournament, the WTT Finals will conclude on Sunday, with the men’s and women’s singles titles up for grabs.
