The singles finals conclude day 10 and table tennis event at the 13th National Games. Ding Ning clinched the women's singles and the men's singles title goes to Ma Long while Xu Xin withdrew from today's competition due to injuries.
Day 10 of the competition had an exciting start. The semifinals was played between 2017 WTTC women's singles finalists Ding Ning and Zhu Yuling. Both players played world-class rallies in the match and had an intense competition. After 5 games, Zhu Yuling was leading 3-2 but she had some problems in returning Ding Ning's squat serves in the last 2 games and Ding Ning comeback with a 4-3 victory. On the other hand, the other semifinals which, Liu Shiwen won over Wang Yidi 4-1, was less intense. Despite Wang Yidi played aggressively from the start Liu Shiwen was quick and consistent. As a result, Liu Shiwen joined Ding Ning in the women's singles final.
The women's singles bronze medal match was way more intense then many have thought. The match between Zhu Yuling, the 2017 WTTC women's singles runner-up, and Wang Yidi, a national B team member, should be quite an unequal contest but Wang Yidi did not hold back. She fought hard and strategically played to Zhu Yuling's forehand side when Zhu Yuling intended to play forehand pivot. The 2 players fought till the very last 5th game and Zhu Yuling won 3-2 adding a women's singles bronze medal to her collection.
It has been quite awhile since Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen played against each other in a best of 7 format. The women's finals between Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen was such an amazing match that I have been looking forward to. The first game was an intense match. At deuce, Ding Ning missed her backhand and lost the first game 13-15. Ding Ning had great start in the 2nd and 3rd game. She started the 2nd game with a 4-0 lead and 5-0 lead in the 3rd game. This gave her leading 2-1 after 3 games. Liu Shiwen had better ball placement in the 4th game preventing Ding Ning from spinning the ball hard and playing wide angles. Liu Shiwen leveled the game to 2-2 after 4 games. Liu Shiwen missed several forehand shots in the 5th games and lost the game 5-11. Liu Shiwen went all out in the 6th game, hoping to sustain her hope for winning the women's singles title at the National Games. At 9-9 Ding Ning'a return clipped the net and earned herself a point. As a result, Ding Ning won the 6th game 11-9 and became the women's singles champion of the 13th National Games.
In the men's singles semifinals, Ma Long played against his Beijing teammate Wang Chuqin who is 12 years younger than him. It turned out that Ma Long is a class above Wang Chuqin. Wang Chuqin is a very promising young athlete. He is powerful and strong in the counter-loop but he lacks some variations. Ma Long had great control of the soft drop and played a few chop/slice (he is not a chopper but he has been obsessed with chopping/slicing the ball) in the rallies. By doing so he slowed down the ball a bit and add some strange spin to the ball which makes it hard for his opponent to return the ball. As a result Ma Long won over Wang Chuqin 4-1 and headed to the finals. Xu Xin withdrew from the competition due to his injuries. So Fan Zhendong directly made to the finals. Xu Xin has won 1 gold (team) and 1 silver (men's doubles) at the Games. Of course another medal in the men's singles will be icing on the cake but health is always more important as the National Games is only a competition while there are more competitions coming up in Xu Xin's career. Let's wish Xu Xin a speedy recovery and play some great matches in the future.
Like 12 years ago when 17-year-old Ma Long won a bronze medal in men's singles at 2005 National Games, 17 year-old Wang Chuqin walked away with a bronze medal. Wang Chuqin is a bit lucky in the men's singles as he has not played against big names until the semifinals (the seed in his quarter is Zhang Jike who bowed out early in the round of 16). He lost to Ma Long in the semifinals but Xu Xin walked over the bronze medal match due to injury. Therefore Wang Chuqin has not really put into the real test in the men's singles competition at the 13th National Games. Luck is part of the competition and Wang Chuqin deserves to walk away proudly with a men's singles bronze medal around his neck. Wang Chuqin has a lot of room to improve. May the bronze medal give a good start for the 17-year-old and we might see Wang Chuqin climbing up the ranks in the next few years.
4 years ago at the 12th National Games in Liaoning, Ma Long dramatically made a comeback winning 4-3 over Fan Zhendong in the men's singles finals. Many said it's already an outstanding result for 16-year-old Fan Zhendong as settled for second among top Chinese and world-class table tennis is an accomplishment for the 16-year-old. However we saw Fan Zhendong's facial expression at the award ceremony tells 'I should have done better'. In the past 4 years Fan Zhendong has played against Ma Long for numerous times and some happened in the men's singles finals like today. In 2017 WTTC men's singles finals, Fan Zhendong lost the 7th game to Ma Long by 9-11, falling short from winning the men's singles world champion title. In an interview before the 13th National Games, Fan Zhendong said he must win Ma Long if they meet each other in competition. He did it in the first stage of team competition when Team Beijing played against Team PLA. However in that match, Ma Long held back a bit to save energy for the more decisive match against Team Tianjin. Fan Zhendong won 3-0 over Ma Long in that match but it may not mean much to Fan Zhendong and the audience and they look forward to the second encounter in the team competition. Sadly, Team Beijing were knocked out by Team Guangdong in the quarterfinals.
Today at the 13th National Games table tennis men's singles finals, Ma Long played against Fan Zhendong again. Ma Long started off strong winning 11-8 in the first game. In game 2, Fan Zhendong's backhand down the line had earned him several points when Ma Long pivoted for forehand shots and took the game 11-8. Ma Long was again obsessed with his backhand chop/slice. Ma Long was a versatile player and his variations had put Fan Zhendong in a tough time. Fan Zhendong called for a timeout in the 4th game as he knew winning that game was so important for him and it did work for him as he won 11-7 in that game. Perhaps Fan Zhendong wanted to win that game so badly, perhaps Ma Long was too good to be defeated. In the 5th and 6th game, Fan Zhendong made similar mistakes in the WTTC men's singles final. He mismanaged several pivot forehand shots and missed several extremely backhand flick down the line. At the end Ma Long defended his men's singles title winning 4-2 over Fan Zhendong. Congratulations to Ma Long and I feel sorry for Fan Zhendong. It is sad to miss the title so close 4 years ago and it is heart-breaking for missing the title repeatedly losing to the same person. There's a quote for Fan Zhendong, "Ever tried. Ever Failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.". Fan Zhendong is such an outstanding athlete that his peak is yet to come and he will shine in the Olympic arena 3 years later in Tokyo.
Results of Day 10 (6 September)
Women's Singles Semifinals
Ding Ning (Beijing) 4-3 Zhu Yuling (Sichuan)
11-6, 8-11, 11-9, 4-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9 [Full Match]
Liu Shiwen (Guangdong) 4-1 Wang Yidi (Yunnan)
11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 11-7, 11-8 [Full Match]
Women's Singles Bronze Medal Match
Zhu Yuling (Sichuan) 3-2 Wang Yidi (Yunnan)
7-11, 11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 11-7 [Full Match]
Women's Singles Finals
Ding Ning (Beijing) 4-2 Liu Shiwen (Guangdong)
13-15, 11-3, 11-4, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9 [Full Match]
Men's Singles Semifinals
Ma Long (Beijing) 4-1 Wang Chuqin (Beijing)
11-3, 11-8, 11-6, 5-11, 11-7 [Full Match]
Xu Xin (Shanghai) [W.O] Vs Fan Zhendong (PLA)
Men's Singles Bronze Medal Match
Xu Xin (Shanghai) [W.O] Vs Wang Chuqin (Beijing)
Men's Singles Finals
Ma Long (Beijing) Vs Fan Zhendong (PLA)
11-8, 8-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-9 [Full Match]
CNG Results & Recaps
Detailed results and summary of the matches of the day. There will be links provided to watch the video of that day's match and schedule for the next day.
Day 1: Aug 28 -- Men's / Women's Team Stage 1
Day 2: Aug 29 -- Men's / Women's Team Stage 1
Day 3: Aug 30 -- Men's / Women's Team Quarterfinals
Day 4: Aug 31 -- Men's / Women's Team Semifinals
Day 5: Sep 1 -- Men's / Women's Team Finals
Day 6: Sep 2 -- Mixed Doubles& Women's Singles & Men's Singles
Day 7: Sep 3 -- Mixed Doubles Finals & Men's / Women's Singles and Doubles
Day 8: Sep 4 -- Men's / Women's Doubles & Singles
Day 9: Men's / Women's Doubles Semifinals & Finals
CNG Guide: All You Should Know (Previews, Results, Throwbacks...)
2017 CNG Full Match Playlist Here is a playlist of table tennis competitions at 2017 National Games. Enjoy
If you want to catch up table tennis competitions from the previous National Games, the following playlist is definitely the one to go to. There is video dated back in 1997!
The table tennis event at 13th National Games has finally come to an end. I hope you enjoy watching the Games and reading the blog. I will be translating fluff and interviews of the National Games in the coming days so stay tuned! Share your views on the Games and the blog so that I can make better content on this blog. Thanks for reading!
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