The Lull After the Storm, Convincing Wins Signal Start of Third Series
Perfect 2016 World Team Championships
Courtesy of ITTF
Tense contests, the full five matches required to determine the outcome, duels approaching four hours in duration being experienced; that had been very much the scenario in the first stage of the Women’s Championship Division on the opening day of play at the Perfect 2016 World Team Championships in Kuala Kumpur.
One day later, on Monday February 29th, as matters continued, it was a very different situation; victory by three matches to nil was the order of proceedings.
Convincing Wins
China with Liu Shiwen, Li Xiaoxia and Zhu Yuling on duty proved too strong for the Romanian trio formed by Adina Diaconu, Bernadette Szocs and Cristina Hirici.
Likewise there was a three-nil success for the Chinese Taipei outfit comprising Ng Sock Khim, Ho Ying and Lin Chia-Hui in opposition to the host nation’s Ng Sock Kim, Liiu Hsing-Yin and Amada Wong.
In the same group, the same margin of victory was upheld by the Hungarian trio of Georgina Pota, Szandra Pergel and Petra Lovas against a below strength Spanish team comprising Galia Dvorak, Zhang Xuan and Claudia Caymel.
Injury
“Shen Yanfei is injured, so it made our job much easier, she is a very dangerous player; without her it is not the same team”, said Georgina Pota who beat Galia Dvorak in three straight games (11-4, 11-7, 11-3).
“I played against Galia Dvorak long time ago, so I was little bit worried”, added Georgina Pota. “It was unnecessary, because she did not adjust to my game; I could attack and block without major problems.”
More Success
Success for Georgina Pota was followed by success for Szandra Pergel against Zhang Xuan (11-9, 11-6, 11-7) and for Petra Lovas in opposition the Claudia Caymel (9-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-4).
Same Situation
Convincing wins in Group A of the Women’s Championship Division as the third series of matches concluded. It was the same in Group D with Hong Kong, Korea and Russia recording impressive wins.
Fielding the trio of Tie Yana, Doo Hoi Kem and Lee Ho Ching; Hong Kong beat the Austrian combination of Sofia Polcanova, Liu Jia and Li Qiangbing by three matches to nil.
Played concurrently, it was the same margin of victory for the Korean outfit of Seo Hyowon, Yang Haeun and Lee Zion; impressively they beat the Swedish trio formed by Matilda Ekholm, Jennifer Jonson and Linda Bergström without a single individual match being surrendered.
Meanwhile, not to be outdone it was the maximum margin of victory for Russia’s Polina Mikhailova, Yana Noskova and Anna Tokhomirova against the United States combination of Zheng Jiaqi, Wang Chen and Lily Zhang.
Current Situation
Two fixture still to play, based on the scoring system of one point for a fixture completed plus one for a win; after three rounds of contests, China (6 points) and Chinese Taipei (6 points) are the two unbeaten teams in Group ‘ A’ followed by Romania (5 points), Hungary (4 points), Spain (3 points) and Malaysia (3 points).
Meanwhile, in Group ‘D’, Hong Kong (6 points) and Korea (6 points), lead the way unbeaten; next in line is Austrai (5 points) followed by Russia (4 points), the next of the list being Sweden (3 points) and the United States (3 points).
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