Defending World Cup champ Ma Lin scored a hat trick on Sunday in
Xiaoshan, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang
Province?to claim his third men's singles title in the
International Table Tennis Federation tournament. Chinese women
also held on to their dominant position, claiming their eighth
consecutive World Cup title.
Ma repeated his come-from-behind victory of 2003, posting a 4-2
win against Kalinikos Kreanga of Greece, whom he also defeated in
the 2003 World Cup. Ma won his first championship in 2000.
In the women's final, the world's No. 1 Zhang Yining followed
her impressive performance at the Athens Olympics by dethroning her
older teammate Wang Nan in a 4-2 victory during an all-Chinese
final.
Kreanga made it to the men's final after overpowering Joo
Se-hyuk of South Korea 4-2 while Ma advanced earlier after a
lopsided 4-0 victory over younger compatriot Wang Hao, the Athens
Olympic finalist.
Like last year, Ma seemed nervous in the opening set and put up
little resistance. It took him some time to find his game, trailing
1-2 after three sets.
"I did not feel very well at the start. But I was always
confident that I have an advantage over him in skill. Anyway, I
have won many times against Kreanga," said Ma.
In the men's bronze medal match, Wang got off to a comfortable
start after beating South Korea's Joo in a seven-set thriller.
But the 21-year-old Wang, who has been under pressure since his
Athens Olympics loss to South Korean Ryu Seung-min in the finals,
needed a timely win here to boost his confidence. He lost the
semifinal match to Ma in straight sets.
"I am satisfied with Ma's performance in the tournament. His
form is good and he did a very good job in controlling the match,"
said Liu Guoliang, Chinese men's head coach. A former world and
Olympic champion himself, Liu stated that Wang Hao still has room
for improvement.
In the women's finals, Olympic champion Zhang and teammate Wang
scored semi-final victories against Tie Yana of Hong Kong and Li
Jia Wei of Singapore on Saturday, claiming yet another title for
China. The Chinese women have won the previous seven World Cups,
with Wang taking three and Zhang winning two.
Zhang was nervous going into the match and trailed 3-9 in the
first set. But the 23-year-old came back strongly and won the
gripping first set.
Wang Nan took one set back but continued to struggle with
Zhang's speed and power.
Zhang said winning against her fellow paddler, who has won the
majority of their previous encounters, was not a matter of
skill.
"It is always difficult to play Wang Nan. She is one of the best
players in the world," Zhang said. "The skill is not what wins the
match. It is more important for me to keep my mind on the match and
not to think about too much else."
Wang said she did not play well in the final, but gave credit to
the younger star.
"Years ago, I was the top player and all I had to do is defend
my position. Now she is the top one and I am a challenger and I
have to try my best to win every match."
But Wang says any rivalry between them is good-natured. "We are
good friends and I hope we can keep our good form and win more
glory for China."
In the third-place playoff, Tie outlasted Li 4-1.
(China Daily November 1, 2004)