Taiwan’s top table tennis team on Saturday bagged the mixed doubles title at the World Table Tennis Contender tournament in Doha.
After cruising through their quarter-final and semi-final matches without dropping a game on Friday, world No. 4 mixed doubles pair Lin Yun-ju and Cheng I-ching defeated Emmanuel Lebesson and Yuan Jianan of France in the finals.
The world No. 15 French pair proved to be the most formidable competitors for Lin and Cheng at the tournament, as the final stretched into five games.
Photo: AFP
The Taiwanese pair eventually prevailed 11-7, 11-13, 11-6, 16-18, 11-4 to clinch the mixed doubles title.
In the women’s doubles, world No. 6 Cheng Hsien-tzu and Chen Szu-yu of Taiwan lost to the world No. 2 Japanese pair Miu Hirano and Kasumi Ishikawa, 6-11, 8-11, 6-11.
In men’s singles, 19-year-old Lin, who is world No. 7, fell to World No. 12 Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany in the finals, 11-7, 14-12, 6-11, 11-6.
With the Contender tournament ending on Saturday, the next event on the International Table Tennis Federation agenda in Doha is the Star Contender competition, which starts today under a revised calendar.
The qualifying draw started yesterday for today’s Star Contender competition.
In the men’s single qualifying draw, Taiwan’s Chen Chien-an, world No. 69, was set to face 29-year-old Noshad Alamiyan of Iran, while Liao Cheng-ting, world No. 119, would play against Romania’s Cristian Pletea.
Under the new branding, most of the matches would be played in a best-of-five format, while the usual best-of-seven format would be retained only for the semi-finals and finals of the men’s and women’s singles.
Soccer officials yesterday offered “full support and assistance” to the Iranian team in Australia for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup after the US and Israel launched massive attacks on their homeland. Iran’s 26-strong squad arrived on the Gold Coast days before the strikes on Saturday killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Washington and Tel Aviv seek to topple the Islamic republic. They are due to open their tournament today against South Korea. The AFC in a statement said it “continues to closely monitor the recent developments in the Middle East during this challenging period.” “The AFC’s foremost priority remains the welfare, safety and
ROAD RASH: Marc Marquez retired after a crash, marking the first time after 88 consecutive races stretching back to 2021 that a Ducati bike failed to make the podium Marco Bezzecchi yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening grand prix in Thailand from pole position as defending world champion Marc Marquez retired late with a buckled wheel. Aprilia’s Bezzecchi led from start to finish to top the podium in Buriram, with KTM’s Pedro Acosta second and Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez third. Ducati’s Marquez is chasing a record-equaling eighth world title this season, but he exited the race in dramatic fashion while in fourth place with five laps to go. The Spaniard, who started from second on the grid, took a corner wide, with the jolt to his bike dislodging the rear tire, badly damaging his
EVERY DAY A VICTORY: Players on the women’s team faced pressure from society just getting out onto the field as they prepare for their first Women’s Asian Cup game today Bangladesh’s national soccer team face daunting odds at their first-ever Women’s Asian Cup, but have already scored a major victory by qualifying. In the South Asian nation of 170 million, social stigma, family expectations, poverty and religious hardliners have long relegated women and girls to sports sidelines. The first women’s soccer league matches took place in 2011 and the squad, known to fans as the Red and Green, have kept pressing forward despite deeply embedded prejudices. “Many more girls would have joined us if the community had been even slightly supportive,” captain Afeida Khandaker told AFP ahead of her side’s March 3
Liverpool on Tuesday suffered an embarrassing 2-1 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers as Andre’s stoppage-time strike sealed a dramatic victory for the English Premier League’s bottom club. Arne Slot’s side fell behind to Rodrigo Gomes’ strike in the closing stages at Molineux. Mohamed Salah hauled Liverpool level with his first goal in 11 top-flight games dating back to November last year. However, Andre’s first goal for Wolves inflicted the latest humbling loss in a chastening season for Liverpool. It was the first time the Premier League’s bottom club had beaten the reigning champions since Crystal Palace defeated Chelsea in 2017. Liverpool
RSS