(by Steve Hopkins)
The 2023 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals are underway in Durban, South Africa. The first day of Singles has ended, and Brian Afanador has logged the biggest upset of the tournament so far. Afanador’s first round opponent was World No. 6 Hugo Calderano. Calderano struck first with a win in the first game, and took the lead again in the third game – but Afanador won three games in a row to advance. Afanador now moves on to face Anders Lind – and because he now holds the tournament placement of a top 6 seed, Afanadaor has a chance for a deep run.
The top seeds are all in good shape heading into Monday’s matches. Fan Zhendong had a bye and will face Panagiotis Gionis tomorrow. Ovtcharov needed all seven games to slide past France’s Can Akkuzu. Truls Moregard, Liang Jingkun, and Ma Long all moved forward with 4-0 wins. Canada’s Eugene Wang also advanced with a 4-2 win over Majoros. USA’s only entry, Jishan Liang fell to Egypt’s Mohamed El-Beiali 4-2.
The first day of Women’s Singles was not good for TeamUSA as all three of our entries fell early. Lily Zhang lost to Sweden’s Linda Bergstrom, Sarah Jalli fell to Japan’s Hina Hayata, and Amy Wang fell to France’s Audrey Zarif. Puerto Rico posted strong results with wins by both Melanie Diaz and Adriana Diaz. The top seeds are cruising along so far – but the competition will get much tougher as the week progresses.
Amy Wang and Rachel Sung topped Daniela Ortega and Paulina Vega (from Chile) 3-0 to keep TeamUSA alive in the Women’s Doubles event. TeamUSA also has two teams left in Mixed Doubles. Lily Zhang and Jishan Liang defeated Ukraine’s team of Limonov and Brateyko 3-2, and Amy Wang and Nikhil Kumar defeated the Algerian team of Loghraibi and Bouloussa.
The finals are scheduled for next Sunday. Check in for frequent updates as the tournament progresses this week.
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