China’s LIN Gaoyuan has sensationally defeated World number two FAN Zhendong (CHN) at the 2017 ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup today, 17 September 2017 in Ahmedabad, India, to qualify for the Liebherr 2016 ITTF Men’s World later next month.
Making only his first Asian Cup appearance, the seventh seeded LIN was in his top form in the final against his teammate, staying on top of his game to take the lead over the top seed.
Despite FAN’s efforts to overturn the tides in the game, leveling the scores 1-1, 2-2, it was LIN who prevailed in the next two games to seal a 4-2 (11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5) victory to win the golden ticket to the Men’s World Cup.
“I’m very excited now that I’m qualified to play in the World Cup!” stated LIN after the sensational win. “Before playing in the tournament, I didn’t even think about playing at the World Cup, and my goal was just to play each & every match well.”
The 22-year-old added “I lost to him (FAN) five years ago at the World Junior Championships, and I lost to him again last month at the Chinese National Games, so today I have no pressure to win at all. All I have to do is to play my best against him, and I did it!”
The Women’s Singles final was another close encounter that thrilled the local crowd. In the all-Chinese final, top seed ZHU Yuling (CHN) claimed her first Asian Cup title in the Women’s Singles Final, accounting for compatriot LIU Shiwen 4-3 (6-11, 11-9, 11-8, 10-12, 11-7, 11-13, 11-6).
In the rematch of their semifinals encounter earlier at the Liebherr 2017 World Table Tennis Championships, ZHU repeated her success against LIU, ending LIU’s dream for a historic fifth Asian Cup title.
Claiming her first ever Asian Cup title, ZHU shared “I think winning this title is a sign that I’ve improved and moved to a new level. During the World Championships, it felt like I made some improvements in the mental game, but was still facing a bottleneck in terms of skills, but winning today makes me feel that I have moved a step forward.”
“Both of us performed well today. Her speed was too fast for me to catch, so I was always trailing behind at the start of each game. But I kept adjusting myself to get used to her speed.”
The 2017 ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup is the continental qualifications for the prestigious ITTF Men’s & Women’s World Cups to be hold next month:
Liebherr 2017 ITTF Men’s World Cup – 20-22 Oct 2017, Liege (BEL)
Uncle Pop 2017 ITTF Women’s World Cup presented by Polar Naturals – 27-29 Oct 2017, Markham (CAN)
The ITTF World Cups are the second most prestigious events on the international table tennis calendar, with only 20 of the top table tennis players qualifying through their respective Continental Cups together with the current World Champions, one host player and a wildcard.
As the two current World Champions are both Chinese, and only two players from each country able to compete in the World Cups, only the two Champions LIN Gaoyuan and ZHU Yuling will be heading to the World Cups from the Chinese team, together with the World Champions DING Ning and MA Long.
Qualified Players:
World Champions: MA Long (CHN), DING Ning (CHN)
2017 ITTF-African Cup: Quadri ARUNA (NGR), Dina MESHREF (EGY)
2017 ITTF-Europe Top 16 Cup: Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER), Alexander SHIBAEV (RUS), Simon GAUZY (FRA), LI Jie (NED), Petrissa SOLJA (GER), Sabine WINTER (GER)
2017 ITTF-Oceania Cup: David POWELL (AUS), LAY Jian Fang (AUS)
2017 ITTF-Pan American Cup: Gustavo TSUBOI (BRA), Kanak JHA (USA), Lily ZHANG (USA), Paulina VEGA (CHI)
2017 ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup: LIN Gaoyuan (CHN), LEE Sangsu (KOR), CHEN Chien-An (TPE), ZHU Yuling (CHN), Kasumi ISHIKAWA (JPN), Miu HIRANO (JPN)
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