The Taiwan women’s team yesterday dominated Chile to remain undefeated in Group 4 at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in Busan, South Korea, while the men’s team forced Japan into a showdown of their top players.
World No. 41 Chen Szu-yu led off the day three match for the women with a 3-0 victory over Daniela Ortega, beating the 25-year-old world No. 233 14-12, 11-4, 11-7 at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center.
Tokyo Games bronze medalist Cheng I-ching followed, blanking Paulina Vega 11-3, 11-7, 14-12, while Wang Yi-ju wrapped up the match by toppling Judith Morales 13-11, 11-6, 11-9.
Photo: Reuters
World No. 10 Cheng — who earned her Olympic medal in the mixed doubles at Tokyo with Lin Yun-ju — and Chen were part of the team who picked up the bronze medal for Taiwan at the World Team Table Tennis Championship Finals in Chengdu, China, in October 2022. At that tournament, they lost only one game in the group stage, to Sweden, before hosts, and that year’s champions, China dominated them 3-0 in their semi-final.
On Saturday, Taiwan also blanked Algeria in straight matches, with world No. 131 Cheng Hsien-tzu beating Lynda Loghraibi 11-3, 11-6, 11-6, followed by world No. 67 Li Yu-jhun, who also competed in Chengdu, toppling Malissa Nasri 11-9, 11-4, 11-8, and Chen dominating Amina Kessaci 11-7, 11-1, 11-2.
In their opening match against Thailand on Friday, Chen pipped Orawan Paranang 11-8, 9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, while Cheng blanked Suthasini Sawettabut 11-6, 11-6, 11-5. Li lost to Jinnipa Sawettabut 11-4, 11-6, 6-11, 5-11, 11-8, but Cheng picked up the final win over Paranang, beating her 11-8, 7-11, 11-3, 7-11, 11-4.
Photo: Reuters
Taiwan, who sit atop Group 4, are today to play the US.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan men’s team yesterday lost their second match of the tournament to seven-time champions Japan, who dominated Taiwan 3-0 in 2018 in Sweden. In Busan, it was a bit of a rematch for world No. 8 Lin and Japan’s world No. 9 Tomokazu Harimoto, who both played in that team match six years ago.
At table two at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center, Harimoto beat world No. 31 teenager Kao Cheng-jui 11-5, 17-15, 13-11, while Lin pipped world No. 74 Hiroto Shinozuka 6-11, 11-6, 11-5, 10-12, 11-6 to tie the match, before world No. 35 Chuang Chih-yuan fell to Sora Matsushima 11-9, 11-13, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9.
That led to a showdown between the teams’ two top 10 players, Lin and Harimoto, with the Japanese squeezing by his opponent to win 12-10, 9-11, 11-3, 7-11, 11-3.
On Saturday, Taiwan eased into their campaign, handily beating Nigeria in straight matches. Nineteen-year-old Kao led off Taiwan, blanking Olajide Omotayo 11-0, 11-8, 11-3, while world No. 8 Lin defeated Bode Abiodun 11-5, 11-3, 11-3 and Chuang beat Quadri Aruna 11-0, 11-0, 11-0.
It was a better start for Taiwan than their drubbing in Chengdu, where the 2014 bronze medalists lost three straight matches to Belgium, Croatia and Singapore to finish at the bottom of their group.
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