Taiwan’s No. 1 player Chuang Chih-yuan (莊智淵) is to face top international players at a major table tennis event hosted by Greater Kaohsiung starting today.
Organizers of the Men’s Table Tennis Tournament in Kaohsiung, with total prize money of NT$3.13 million (US$105,000), said it is the highest-level table tennis event to be hosted in Taiwan.
Chuang is up against seven of the best international players. The most prominent name is Chuang’s nemesis, Ukraine-born world no. 6 Dimitrij Ovtcharov, who now competes for Germany.
Taiwanese audiences should remember Ovtcharov well, as he defeated Chuang in the table tennis semi-final at the 2012 Olympic Games, and dashed the nation’s hopes of securing an Olympic medal for the first time in men’s singles.
World No. 9 Chuang did Taiwan proud last year when he and partner Chen Chien-an won the men’s doubles world title in Paris, thereby claiming the nation’s first world championship title in table tennis.
The other competitors in Kaohsiung are world No. 13 Jun Mizutani from Japan, world No. 19 Joo Se-hyuk from South Korea, Adrian Crican of Romania (world No. 28) and Jiang Tianyi (world No. 31), who was born in China, but now plays for Hong Kong.
Crican is Chuang’s teammate at the German club SV Werder Bremen in the European Table Tennis Union.
Rounding out the field are former world champions Jurgen Persson of Sweden (world no. 1, 1991 to 1992) and Jean-Michel Saive of Belgium (world no. 1 in 1994 to 1995, and 1996).
“All of them are top players with good skills, so I’m facing very tough competition. My aim is to get into the semi-final, where I may face either Ovtcharov or Mizutani,” Chuang told reporters yesterday.
“I have competed against them in the past. Each one has their individual style. For example, South Korea’s Joo Se-hyuk puts powerful spins on the ball and that was tough for me. Maybe facing Saive will be easier, because at 44 he is older than me,” the 32-year-old Chuan said.
Admission to the tournament at Kaohsiung’s K-Arena is free from today through Sunday.
All games are to be televised on MOD sports network.
The event is sponsored by the Taiwan Styrene Monomer Corporation, which is based in the southern port city.
Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday fought through a second-set slump to post a roller-coaster 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Damir Dzumhur in his opening match at the Cincinnati Open. The Spaniard, playing his first tournament since losing to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final, raced through the first set, but completely lost his way in the second, dropping his serve twice against the 33-year-old Bosnian. Alcaraz regained his intensity and cut down his errors in the third set as a seventh ace took him to a match point that was converted when Dzumhur fired wide. “It was just a roller coaster,” said the second
NEXT ROUND: World No. 1s Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka opened their title defenses with straight-sets wins, while Iga Swiatek and Taylor Fritz also advanced Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka got their title defenses off to smooth starts as they powered into the third round of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Saturday. The men’s and women’s top seeds, each ranked No. 1 in the world, were both competing for the first time since Wimbledon, where Sinner lifted the title and Sabalenka bowed out in the women’s semi-finals. Sinner crushed Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan 6-1, 6-1 in steamy afternoon weather, while Sabalenka beat 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 6-1 under the lights of the night session. Sabalenka needed 54 minutes and a service break in the final game
Taiwan’s men’s basketball team on Monday clinched a spot in the FIBA Asia Cup quarter-finals with a 78-64 win over Jordan in Saudi Arabia, securing their best finish in the tournament since placing fourth in 2013. The win was sweet revenge for Taiwan, who were denied a quarter-final spot by Jordan at the same stage of the previous Asia Cup in 2022 after blowing a nine-point lead in the final minute and losing 97-96 on a half-court buzzer-beater. “History is part of the journey,” Taiwan head coach Gianluca Tucci said when asked about the 2022 collapse of the team, who he did
Leicester City on Sunday launched their quest for an immediate return to the English Premier League with a 2-1 win at home to crisis club Sheffield Wednesday after the visitors’ supporters protested against Owls owner Dejphon Chansiri. Wednesday are under several English Football League embargoes for a range of financial breaches, with payments of wages to players and staff delayed for the past three months. Owls fans made their feelings toward Thai businessman Chansiri clear by delaying their entry to their seats and the away end was empty as the players came onto the pitch at the King Power Stadium, with a
RSS