Quarter-Final Defeat but Jun Mizutani Retains Top Spot on Standings

A surprise quarter-final defeat in the Men’s Singles event at the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour Chile Open, which concluded on Sunday 29th April; nevertheless Japan’s 22 year old Jun MIZUTANI retains his place at the top of the Men’s Singles Standings. He leads the race for a place in the million dollar GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals, to be staged the Chinese city of Hangzhou in December.

Status quo for Jun MIZUTANI but three players who competed in Chile make notable progress. Singapore’s GAO Ning, the Men’s Singles winner, is in 10th place, two places ahead of the man he beat in the semi-final in Santiago, colleague ZHAN Jian, and six places ahead of Jun MIZUTANI’s conqueror and compatriot, Kazuhiro CHAN.

Similarly, there is progress for the female players who excelled in Santiago. Korea’s KIM Kyung Ah, the winner of the Women’s Singles event, is now in second place behind China’s FENG Yalan but ahead of third placed CHEN Meng, also from China.

Also making progress on the Women’s list, as a result of their efforts in Chile, are runner up, Singapore’s LI Jiawei and semi-finalist Korea’s YANG Ha Eun. The former is in now in eighth place, the latter in tenth spot.

Meanwhile, the pairs who faced each other at the semi-final stage of the Men’s Doubles event in Chile occupy the top two places on the Men’s Doubles Standings. Singapore’s GAO Ning and LI Hu, who lost the Korea’s KIM Dong Hyun and LEE Jung Woo, retain first place ahead of the Koreans.

YANG Zi and ZHAN Jian, also from Singapore, as a result of their victory in Chile, occupy fourth place behind China’s MA Lin and XU Xin. Semi-finalists in Chile Japan’s Kenji MATSUDAIRA and Jun MIZUTANI are in sixth place.

Progress for Singapore in the Men’s Doubles Standings and there is also progress for Singapore in the counterpart Women’s Doubles Standings. LI Jiawei and SUN Bei who lost in the penultimate round occupy second spot, one place behind China’s CHEN Meng and ZHU Yuling. Japan’s Hiroko FUJII and Misako WAKAMIYA, the winners in Chile, now occupy eighth place.

Singapore and Japan, both prominent in the Doubles Standings are also prominent in the Under 21 lists.

Kasumi ISHIKAWA, who won in Chile and has not lost a single match this year in Under 21 Women’s Singles events on the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour, heads the female list; on the Under 21 Men’s Standing, Singapore’s CHEN Feng, who like Kasumi ISHIKAWA won in Santiago, moves to sixth place. Simon GAUZY of France, currently injured, continues to lead the Under 21 Men’s Standings.

On the conclusion of the GAC GROUP ITTF World Tour Polish Open on Sunday 11th November, the final Standings will be known.

In the Men’s and Women’s Singles events, the top 16 players on the Standings who have played in a minimum five events on the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour, qualify for the Grand Finals in Huangzhou. In the Men’s and Women’s Doubles, the top eight partnerships who have competed in at least four events as a pair qualify, whilst in the Under 21 events the leading eight players who have competed in four events on two continents pass the test.

Eight tournaments remain on the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour before the Grand Finals in Huangzhou; next on the calendar is Korea, the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour Korean Open will be staged in Incheon from Wednesday 16th to Sunday 20th May.

Leading Places following GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour Chile Open

Men’s Singles: 1. MIZUTANI Jun (JPN) 2. XU Xin (CHN), 3 .JOO Saehyuk (KOR) 4. ZHANG Jike (CHN) 5. CHUANG Chih-Yuan (TPE) 6. RYU Seungmin (KOR) 7. MA Long (CHN) 8. WANG Hao (CHN) 9. MA Lin (CHN) 10. GAO Ning (SIN) 11. LEE Jung Woo (KOR) 12. ZHAN Jian (SIN) 13. JIANG Tianyi (HKG) 14. NIWA Koki (JPN) 15. FRANZISKA Patrick (GER) 16. CHAN Kazuhiro (JPN)

Women’s Singles: 1. FENG Yalan (CHN) 2. KIM Kyungah (KOR) 3. CHEN Meng (CHN) 4. DING Ning (CHN) 5. LIU Shiwen (CHN) 6. TIE Yana (HKG) 7. SEOK Hajung (KOR) 8. LI Jiawei (SIN) 9. LI Xiaodan (CHN) 10. YANG Ha Eun (KOR) 11. GUO Yan (CHN) 12. ZHU Yuling (CHN) 13. FUKUHARA Ai (JPN) 14. WU Yang (CHN) 15. ISHIKAWA Kasumi (JPN) 16. SUN Beibei (SIN)

Men’s Doubles: 1. GAO Ning / LI Hu (SIN) 2. KIM Dong Hyun / LEE Jung Woo (KOR) 3. MA Lin / XU Xin (CHN) 4. YANG Zi / ZHAN Jian (SIN) 5. MA Long / ZHANG Jike (CHN) 6. MATSUDAIRA Kenji / MIZUTANI Jun (JPN) 7. JIANG Tianyi / TANG Peng (HKG) 8. FLORE Tristan / LEBESSON Emmanuel (FRA)

Women’s Doubles: 1. CHEN Meng / ZHU Yuling (CHN) 2. LI Jiawei / SUN Beibei (SIN) 3. LI Xiaodan / WEN Jia (CHN) 4. CHANG Chenchen / FENG Yalan (CHN) 5. DING Ning / GUO Yan (CHN) 6. KIM Kyungah (KOR) 7. FAN Ying / WU Yang (CHN) 8. FUJII Hiroko / WAKAMIYA Misako (JPN)

Under 21 Men’s Singles: 1. GAUZY Simon (FRA) 2. ALAMIYAN Noshad (IRI) 3. JUNG Young Sik (KOR) 4. KIM Dong Hyun (KOR) 5. LI Ahmet (TUR) 6. CHEN Feng (SIN) 7. KARLSSON Mattias (SWE) 8. WALTHER Ricardo (GER)

Under 21 Women’s Singles: 1. ISHIKAWA Kasumi (JPN) 2. CHENG I-Ching (TPE) 3. MORIZONO Misaki (JPN) 4. LEE Ho Ching (HKG) 5. PESOTSKA Margaryta (UKR) 6. KANG Mi Soon (KOR) 7. YANG Ha Eun (KOR) 8. CHEN Szu-Yu (TPE). Photo by: Remy Gros

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