The newly minted world No. 1 mixed doubles pair of Cheng I-ching and Lin Yun-ju yesterday won the mixed doubles title at the World Table Tennis Star Contender tournament in Doha.
The Taiwanese duo, who rose four spots to the top ranking after winning the Contender tournament a week earlier, beat world No. 5 South Koreans Jeon Ji-hee and Lee Sang-su 3-1 (10-12, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6).
The second title met the goal set by their US coach, Zheng Jiaqi, before they arrved in Doha for the two tournaments.
The US$400,000 Star Contender tournament was part of the International Table Tennis Federation’s new branding formally introduced this year for its global events.
Despite their performance as a team, neither player did well in their respective singles.
Cheng only made it to the round of 16 in the women’s singles and Lin was stopped in the quarter-finals of the men’s singles.
Before Doha, they competed at the China Table Tennis Super League in December last year as part of their training.
In the men’s doubles, Chuang Chih-yuan and Chen Chien-an of Taiwan were stopped in the semi-finals on Thursday by Jeoung Young-sik and Lee Sang-su of South Korea, losing 2-3 (12-10, 11,9, 11-13, 8-11, 5-11).
In the women’s doubles on Wednesday, Cheng Hsien-tzu and Chen Szu-yu lost to Japan’s Satsuki Odo and Sakura Yokoi 0-3 (9-11, 6-11, 8-11) in the quarter-finals.
China, which is set to be a hub hosting upcoming tournaments, last month announced that it would not send its players abroad before the Tokyo Olympics in July, citing concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.
Doha is to host two Olympic qualification tournaments from today to Saturday, although Taiwan has already booked places in the men’s and women’s singles and team events, as well as a spot for Lin and Cheng in the mixed doubles at the Tokyo Games.
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