Berlin, Nov 18, 2013: 16-year-old FAN Zhendong (CHN) has taken the table tennis world by storm, by winning the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour Super Series German Open on 17 November 2013 in Berlin, Germany.
FAN, who made history last week by becoming the youngest ever ITTF World Tour Champion after winning the Polish Open, has confirm himself as one of the brightest talents the sport has ever seen after this performance.
“I am very happy to win this event, it is an important stepping stone in my career as I want to be the World and Olympic Champion,” stated FAN.
If this tournament is anything to go by, the current Junior World Champion is on track to achieve these goals. On his way to the title, he beat current world and Olympic Champion ZHANG Jike (CHN), living legend Vladimir SAMSONOV (BLR) and Olympic bronze medalist Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER) in the final 13-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-1, 11-9.
FAN’s teammate WEN Jia (CHN) also had a day to remember, clinching both the Women’s Singles and Women’s Doubles gold medals, both against Japan Open champion Ai FUKUHARA (JPN).
WEN beat the exhausted FUKUHARA 11-5, 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 to clinch her second ITTF World Title Singles gold, and then together with doubles partner ZHAO Yan saved 3 match points against the Japanese pair of FUKUHARA Ai and WAKAMIYA Misako to cap off a memorable event.
“I can’t be happier, this was a perfect tournament for me. It was my goal to win the women’s singles and doubles gold medal, but I didn’t expect it would come true,” exclaimed WEN.
The capacity crowd of 5,500 at Max-Schmeling-Halle were sent into raptures as local heroes Timo BOLL and Patrick FRANZISKA came from behind to win the Men’s Doubles title 11-8, 7-11, 8-11, 13-11, 12-10 against CHIANG Hung-Chieh (TPE) & HUANG Sheng-Sheng (TPE).
FRANZISKA stated after the match: “It’s just fantastic to pair with Timo in doubles. He boosts my self-confidence and helps me to come through some moments of poor performance. Without him I wouldn’t have won the final.”
LEE Ho Ching (HKG) was the iron women of the competition, playing 12 matches and contesting a total of 1174 points on her way to her third Under-21 crown.
Masataka MORIZONO (JPN) won the men’s Under-21 title to confirm his place at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in Dubai.
The 2013 German Open was one of the biggest ever World Tour events and it provided some of the biggest upsets of 2013, with the number one and two seeds FENG Tinwei (SIN) and Kasumi ISHIKAWA (JPN) being knocked out in the first round by Yuka ISHIGAKI (JPN) and Galia DVORAK (ESP) respectively.
The GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour only has two stops left as players scramble for points to ensure their qualification into the one-million-dollar World Tour Grand Final in Dubai on 9-12 January 2013 :
• GAC Group ITTF World Tour, Major Series, Russian Open: Ekaterinburg, Russia – 20-24 November 2013
• GAC Group ITTF World Tour, Major Series, Swedish Open: Stockholm, SWE – 27 November – 1 December 2013
German Open in numbers:
• 12,500 Spectators
• 384 players
• 787 matches played
• 3648 games played
• 67,176 points played
• 120 accredited media. —- Photo by Dr. Stephan Roscher/ITTF
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