(by Steve Hopkins)
While much of the world is focused on the WTT Contender event with some of the world’s best competing in Doha, the China National Games is running in Shaanxi with the top three players in the world competing.
Despite having so many big names, it was a virtual unknown who was the biggest story line of the event. Liu Dingshuo, a 23 year old lefty who is currently ranked No. 230 (highest ranking of No. 115) upset Xu Xin in the Quarterfinals. He then faced off against Wang Chuqin (World No. 17) and was dominant – winning 4-1.
For his part, World No. 1 Fan Zhendong beat everyone pretty easily, including a 4-0 win over World No. 11 Liang Jingkun in their Semifinal. Liu Dingshuo seemed content in making it to the Final – the actual match was not competitive as Fan won 4-0.
Fan’s team also won the team event – and that included a decisive win over Ma Long in the last singles match of the event, so Fan ran the table winning both the Team event and the Singles event.
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