History repeated itself yesterday, as Taiwan’s Chuang Chih-yuan again lost an all-important table tennis match to Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov, ending the Taiwanese men’s Olympic run, as they only won two of their five matches in the team quarter-finals.
Nine years ago in London, Chuang lost to Ovtcharov in a six-game heartbreaker in the final game of the men’s singles bronze-medal decider.
Yesterday, the 40-year-old veteran was again defeated by the German, losing 8-11, 9-11, 7-11 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gym.
Photo: AP
Commenting on yet another loss to Ovtcharov, Chuang praised his opponent for his tenacity.
He also said that his fifth and probably last Olympic appearance went okay, but there is always room for improvement.
The only bright spot for Taiwan is 19-year-old sensation Lin Yun-ju, who beat Ovtcharov 3-2 in one of his two singles matches.
Photo: AFP
Team coach Chiang Peng-lung praised Lin for yet another outstanding performance at his first Olympics and said the team had done its best.
In Taiwan’s first match yesterday, Chuang and Chen Chien-an lost 0-11, 6-11, 6-11, 10-12 to Patrick Ranziska and Timo Boll of Germany.
Lin then won two singles matches against Ovtcharov and Ranziska, while Chen lost one to Boll before Chuang lost the final match to his old rival.
Yesterday’s loss marked the end of Taiwan’s participation in table tennis at the Tokyo Olympics. They leave with one bronze medal, won by Lin and Cheng I-ching in the mixed doubles.
The Taiwanese men’s and women’s teams finished fifth in Tokyo, the best showing for both squads at the Olympics.
Germany’s men are to go head-to-head today with hosts Japan, who defeated them in the semi-finals in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“We lost to Japan five years ago in Rio, and we want to make it better this time,” Ovtcharov said.
“For Japan, it’s the most important match in their home Olympics. We’re also a little bit happy that the hall is not completely full,” Boll joked.
“But yeah, we will prepare like we always did, we give it our best and try everything,” he added.
In the 110m hurdles, Taiwan’s Chen Kuei-ru gave his best performance this season, finishing fifth in his first-round heat to qualify for the semi-final, which is being run tomorrow.
In the individual qualifier for equestrian jumping, Taiwan’s Jasmine Chen placed 47th. She did not progress to the final, as she was not in the top 30.
Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying was knocked out of the Malaysia Open yesterday, losing her women’s singles semi-final against Chen Yufei of China 19-21, 21-13, 21-15. Despite two previous victories for second-seeded Tai against Chen this season — including her win in the final of the Thailand Open — fourth-seeded Chen dispatched the world No. 2 in 1 hour, 8 minutes at Kuala Lumpur’s Axiata Arena, securing a spot in the Super 750 tournament’s final. Tai won the opening game of the last-four matchup, scoring two consecutive points after the score was tied 19-19. However, she had a horrific points drought after the
Tai Tzu-ying yesterday was Taiwan’s final hope at the Petronas Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur, advancing to quarter-finals of the women’s singles with a decisive win over Kristin Kuuba of Estonia. The world No. 2 and second-seeded Tai crushed world No. 51 Kuuba 21-11, 21-9 in their second-round match, which lasted about 30 minutes, at the Super 750 tournament at the Axiata Arena. In the opener, Tai shot ahead 11-8 at the mid-game interval, with Kuuba starved after the break, scoring one point as the Taiwanese hit five consecutive winners to bound to 16-9. Kuuba rallied to gain two more points, but Tai
It is, to be sure, the stuff of movies: An oft-injured guy ranked outside the top 100, making his Grand Slam debut thanks to a wild card, knocks out two seeded players on his way to a fourth-round matchup at Wimbledon against none other than No. 1 Novak Djokovic, the three-time defending champion. We can guess what Hollywood might do with that script. Tim van Rijthoven, a 25-year-old Dutchman, earned the chance to see what will happen in real life across the net from Djokovic after both men won in straight sets on Friday at the All England Club. “Before the tournament
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday booked a spot in the women’s singles semi-finals at the Malaysian Open after outdueling Pusarla V. Sindhu of India in a match that went to a deciding game. World No. 2 and second seed Tai defeated world No. 7 Sindhu 13-21, 21-15, 21-13 in a quarter-final that lasted seven minutes shy of an hour at the Super 750 tournament at Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur. It was the 21st meeting between Tai and Sindhu, with the Taiwanese leading the head-to-head record 15-5 before the match. Tai also extended her winning streak against Sindhu to six matches. In the semi-final, Tai
RSS