London – GBR, July 30: China Pair, The top two seeds in the women’s table tennis singles tournament progressed to the quarterfinals without great difficulty, while there were several upsets in the men’s singles fourth round at ExCel on Monday.
Women’s No.1 DING Ning (CHN) beat JIANG Huajun (HKG) 4-1 in their fourth round match. The Hong Kong player was the first to take a game off DING, butthe Chinese woman’s fast footworkand powerful forehand meant she was never truly in difficulty.
No.2 seedLI Xiaoxia (CHN) beat PARK Miyoung (KOR)by the same scoreline, 4-1, after a nervous startin which she gave upthe first game.
Both Japan’smedal hopeswent through to the quarterfinals, butAi FUKUHARA (JPN) struggled to beatLI Jie (NED). No.5 seed FUKUHARAtrailed 1-3 before prevailing 4-3. Her compatriot Kazumi ISHIKAWA had no such difficulty, beating Poland’s defensive chopper LI Qian 4-1.
The most absorbing women’s round four match was the final game on court, between No.8 seed WANG Yuege (SIN) and Viktoria PAVLOVICH (BLR).Thedefensive minded PAVLOVICH was appearing at her fourth Olympics and, despite having lost the previous two meetings between the pair, raced to a 3-1 lead.
PAVLOVICH wasleading 6-0 in the sixth game, butlost her way asWANGadapted to her defensive style. WANG, with her right arm heavily taped, won three straight games totake the match4-3.
No.3 seed, KIM Kyungah (KOR),beat SHEN Yanfei (ESP) 4-1,while FENG Tianwei (SIN) andLI Jiao (NED) also won through to the quaterfinals.
Seeds Jun MIZUTANI (JPN)and Timo BOLL (GER) madeshock exitsfrom the men’s singles during theevening session at ExCel on Monday,withbothlosingto lower-ranked opponents.
In his fourth-round match, world No.5 MIZUTANI scoredjust 23 points in losingto Michael MAZE (DEN), with the Dane taking the match4-0.
Injuries have blighted MAZE’s career, but he looked fit and healthy in this match andmust be consideredan outsider for a medal. To win one, however, he might have to beat world No.1 ZHANG Jike (CHN) in the semifinals.
Adrian CRISAN (ROU)beatBOLL 4-0, with theRomanian No.15 seed’s backhanda constant menacetoBOLL, who was a silver medallist in the men’s team event at the Beijing 2008 Games.
TopseedZHANGJike squeezed past veteran Vladimir SAMSONOV (BLR) 4-3 in the session’s top match.
On what might be the last of his five Olympic appearances, SAMSONOV signed off with a brave display against the world’s top player.The Belarussianled 1-0 and 3-1, but ZHANG fought back to level at three games apiece. The top seed’smovement around thetable and his range of shots enabled him to winthe final game 11-7.
SAMSONOV’s performance will encourage the remaining players,with the aura of invincibility surrounding ZHANG now diminished.
BOLL’s compatriot, Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER), completed a routine 4-0 win over CHEN Weixing (AUT). The unseeded CHEN can be pleased with his Olympic experience, with his victory over No.14 seedAdrienMATTENET (FRA) earlier in the day comingunexpectedly.
The other players through tothe quarterfinals are JIANG Tianyi (HKG), CHUANG Chih-Yuan (TPE), Seiya KISHIKAWA (JPN) and WANG Hao (CHN). —- ITTF
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