Dynamic Duo, Masataka Morizono and Yuya Oshima Secure Title
2016 ITTF German Open
Courtesy of ITTF

Athletic, a partnership to attract the attention with their dynamic style of play, Japan’s Masataka Morizono and Yuya Oshima, the top seeds, won the Men’s Doubles title at the 2016 ITTF World Tour German Open in Berlin on the late afternoon of Sunday January 31st.

At the final hurdle, they accounted for Hong Kong’s Ho Kwan Kit and Tang Peng, the no.4 seeds in five games (11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-2).

Third Title 
The win means that they collect their third career ITTF World Tour Men’s Doubles title but perhaps somewhat surprisingly they are the first Japanese partnership to win the event at an ITTF World Tour tournament in Germany.

A trio of titles; the two previous were secured in the Czech Republic in 2014 and in Croatia last year. In the Czech Republic they accounted for colleagues Jin Ueda and Maharu Yoshimura at the final hurdle, in Croatia it was Korea’s Cho Eonrae and Kim Donghyun.

Jun Mizutani and Seiya Kishikawa 
Meanwhile, on German soil, they exceeded the previous best achieved in 2009 in Bremen by Jun Mizutani and Seiya Kishikawa.

The only other Japanese pairing to reach an ITTF World Tour Men’s Doubles final in Germany, they were beaten in the title deciding match by the host nation combination of Timo Boll and Christian Süss.

No Stranger 
Defeat for Ho Kwan Kit and Tang Peng; it was the first time that Ho Kwan Kit had appeared in an ITTF World Tour Men’s Doubles final, for Tang Peng it was nothing new.

Partnering Jiang Tianyi he won Austria in 2010 and then later in the year at the KAL Cup ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in Seoul; in 2014, in harness with Wong Chung Ting, he succeeded in Spain, Australia and Russia.

Runner Up 
Four titles, Tang Peng was also the runner up in partnership with Jiang Tianyi in Sweden in 2011; they were beaten in the final by China’s Wang Liqin and Yan An.

Likewise in 2013, Masataka Morizono experienced the same fate in partnership with colleague, Kohei Sambe in Poland; defeat in the title deciding match against Korea’s Lee Sangsu and Jung Youngsik was the order of the day.

Leading Pairs 
Success in Berlin means that Masataka Morizono and Yuya Oshima are one of three Japanese pairs to have won three ITTF World Men’s Doubles titles.

Seiya Kishikawa and Jun Mizutani won in 2009 in Wakayama and Suzhou; also in 2014 in Yokohama. Kenta Matsudaira and Koki Niwa succeeded in Budaors and Kobe in 2010 in Poznan in 2012.

Masataka Morizono and Yuya Oshima need just one more to top the Japanese list.

RESULTS

• Men’s Singles
  Final: MA Long (CHN) def. SAMSONOV Vladimir (BLR) 4-1 (11-7,11-6,11-4,10-12,11-5)
• Women’s Singles
  Final: WU Yang (CHN) def. ISHIKAWA Kasumi (JPN) 4-1 (11-5,11-7,9-11,11-8,11-7)
• Men’s Doubles
  Final: MORIZONO Masataka (JPN) / OSHIMA Yuya (JPN) def. HO Kwan Kit HKG / TANG Peng HKG 3-1 (11-8,8-11,11-6,11-2)
• Women’s Doubles
  Final: JEON Jihee (KOR) / YANG Haeun (KOR) def. HAN Ying (GER) / IVANCAN Irene (GER) 3-1 (11-3,8-11,11-7,11-7)
• U-21 Men’s Singles
  Final: MURAMATSU Yuto (JPN) def. GERALDO Joao (POR) 3-0 (11-7,11-4,11-6)
• U-21 Women’s Singles
  Final: HAMAMOTO Yui (JPN) def. HAYATA Hina (JPN) 3-1 (5-11,12-10,11-6,11-6)

Visit ITTF German Open tournament page for more information.