(By Steve Hopkins)
The old saying “Third Time’s a Charm” rang true for Shunsuke Togami today as his third trip to a WTT Final netted his first career WTT event championship at the WTT Contender Series event in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Togami came out on fire today taking the first two games over China’s Zhou Qihao easily – logging 11-5 and 11-8 wins. Qihao then mounted a comeback, winning the next two games at 8 and 7. The final two games were tight throughout, with Togami taking both (11-9 and 13-11) to close out the match 4-2.
Keeping with the them of “threes”, Japan’s Honoka Hashimoto won her third WTT singles title today with a straight set win over China’s Qin Yuxuan. Hashimoto also teamed with Hitomi Sato to win Women’s Doubles. The other two doubles titles went to Chinese teams with Yuan Licen and Xu Yingbin winning Men’s Doubles and Huang Youzheng and Shi Xunyao winning Mixed Doubles.
The other big stories in Almaty were in earlier action. 21 year old Ryoichi Yoshiyama’s quickness prevailed over Darko Jorgic as he took out the event’s top seed. Yoshiyama fought through a tough early draw, defeating Xue Fei 3-2, Gyuhyeon Park 3-2, and Jorgic before falling to eventual winner Togami. On the Women’s side, 18 year old Chinese player Qin Yuxuan made waves. She rose from the 10th seed in the event (World No. 43) all the way to the Finals.
The tour’s attention now turns to Macao where a WTT Champions Series event starts on Tuesday.
Four Finals are on tap for Sunday. Visit ButterflyOnline.com for the latest in table tennis news and results.
