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Day one round-up at Table Tennis Asian Cup

Sport360 staff 23:13 28/04/2016
Lee Sangsu won three straight games to progress in Dubai.

With Zhang Jike assured of the top spot with three wins in Group 2, his final victory over India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta, (11-7, 11-2, 11-8), the pressure was on Korea’s Lee Sangsu to defeat Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting to secure the vital second place. Lee showed his mettle to win in three straight games (11-9, 13-11, 11-4).

As expected China’s Xu Xin won Group 1 ahead of Chiang Hung-Chieh, with Jun Miztani of Japan the no.4 seed, overcoming Singapore’s Gao Ning (11-7, 11-4, 11-5) to top Group 3 ahead of Gao.

In the vital contest to determine first place in the Intercontinental Group, India’s Soumyajit Ghosh beat Iran’s Nima Alamian in five games.

Top spot for Soumyajit Ghosh means that he progresses to the challenge round, where he will meet third place getters in each group, Jung Youngsik, Wong Chun Ting, and Chuang Chih-Yuan to decide who will contest the quarter finals.

In the women’s singles China’s Liu Shiwen, the top seed, beat Korea’s Lee Zion, (11-5, 11-7, 11-4) to secure first place in Group 1, ahead of Miu Hirano who accounted for Hong Kong’s Tie Yana (11-5, 11-7, 11-4). Tie Yana finished in third position.

Likewise, Li Xiaoxia, accounted for Noura Almaazi, from the United Arab Emirates (11-4, 11-5, 11-4) and thus topped Group 2. In the contest for second and third positions, Singapore’s Yu Mengyu, the no.8 seed, defeated Korea’s Yang Haeun, the no.5 seed (8-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-8).

Singapore’s Feng Tianwei, the defending champion overcame a scare to defeat 15 year old Mima Ito in one of the most gripping matches of the day.

Feng Tianwei survived the test but for Chen Zhibin, the coach sitting courtside, there were some nervous moments; as Feng needed the full five games to secure victory (8-11, 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6).

Success for Feng Tianwei enabled her to finish the day with an unblemished record and top Group 3.

Hong Kong’s Jiang Huajun overcame Chinese Taipei’s Chen Szu-Yu (11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6) to finish third behind Ito.

Another upset occurred in the Intercontinental Group when India’s Manika Batra beat Thailand’s Suhasini Sawettabu (11-7, 11-5, 11-8), the first time she had defeated her in six meetings.

Batra’s win saw her top her group and move into the challenge play offs tomorrow. The action continues tomorrow at 10am and runs through to 7.30pm. The finals will be held on

Saturday, with the bronze medal matches commencing at 2pm and the gold medal matches from 3.30 – 5.30pm.

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