Kobe – Japan, Sept 23, 2013: LIU Shiwen (CHN) has proven why she is the world’s best table tennis player by claiming gold at the STARTS 2013 ITTF Women’s World Cup, which concluded 23 September 2013 in Kobe, Japan.
The 22-year-old beat fellow countrywomen WU Yang 11-3, 11-7, 11-7, 11-2 to claim her third Women’s World Cups from three attempts, the youngest player in history to do so.
“It is an honour for me to win the Women’s World Cup for the 3rd time” stated the world number one. “This has given me a lot of confidence, which will hopefully allow me to realize my dreams of becoming World and Olympic Champion.”
“I am thrilled to be playing the Women’s World Cup in Japan, where the crowd is very supportive and knowledgeable about the sport. I hope that I will be able to carry this streak forward to next year for the Tokyo World Team Championships when China will be defending our title.”
Despite cruising through the finals 4-0, LIU stated that it was not as straightforward as it seemed: “Mine and WU’s levels are not that far apart. The main difference between us is that I have more experience, and WU was more nervous due to this being her first World Cup.”
WU managed to take some positives out of her defeat in the final to LIU: “As this was my first World Cup, I was happy that I was able to show the world my level. I now need to go home and practice my tactics for these big matches, so next time I can win.”
FENG Tianwei (SIN) repeated her heroics from London 2012 to claim bronze, outclassing JIANG Huajun (HGK) 11-6, 13-11, 12-10, 11-2.
“Overall I am satisfied with my performance, and happy that despite the difficulties I faced in this high level event, I was able to overcome my opponent and bring home the bronze medal. I am looking forward to coming back to Japan next year for the World Team Table Tennis Championships, where I hope I can help Singapore win another medal.”
The 17th edition of the Women’s World Cup featured players from every continent who qualified from their respective Continental Cups, making it truly a global affair.
African Cup Champion Han Xing (CGO) caused the biggest upset of the tournament, defeating World number 18 Seok Hajung (KOR) in the group stages, which shows the development of the African nations.
With 10,000 people turning up to cheer on the top 20 players, it builds the excitement leading up to the 2014 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships being held in Tokyo, Japan on 28 April – 5 May 2014.
Next up in 2013 on the ITTF calendar is the LIEBHERR Men’s World Cup in Verviers, Belgium on 25-27 October 2013, which follows the same playing format as the Women’s World Cup. —- Photo by ITTF
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