Taiwanese Olympians Lin Yun-ju (林昀儒) and Cheng I-ching (鄭怡靜) on Sunday won the mixed doubles title at the World Table Tennis Star Contender London competition.
The duo, ranked No. 11 in the world, defeated world No. 5 pairing Wong Chun Ting (黃鎮廷) and Doo Hoi Kem (杜凱?) of Hong Kong on the final day of the event at the Copper Box Arena in London.
The Taiwanese started off strong, pulling six points ahead of their rivals at one point in the first game, but Wong and Doo bounced back to win the game 11-8.
Photo: screen grab from World Table Tennis’ Facebook page
At the start of the second game, Lin and Cheng seemed to have regained their composure and they went neck-and-neck with Wong and Doo, tying the score 9-9 at one point, before going on to win 11-9.
The Taiwanese mixed doubles partners, who were bronze medal winners at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, maintained their momentum in the third game, taking it 11-7.
They seemed unstoppable when the crucial fourth game started, as they quickly took an early five-point lead, scoring a 7-2 advantage.
With just one final point to conclude the 10-6 game for the gold, the Taiwanese duo faced a strong comeback by the Hong Kong players, who scored three points to put the game on edge at 10-9.
However, with the gold medal in sight, Lin and Cheng converted a match point to win the game and take the mixed doubles title.
Once ranked world No. 1 as a mixed team, Lin and Cheng had been playing with other partners or competing in other categories before teaming up again this season.
At the Star Contender London competition, held between Tuesday last week and Sunday, Lin and Cheng made it as far as the semi-finals in the men’s and women’s singles respectively.
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