- Durban World Table Tennis Championships Asian preliminaries Malone wins Guoping and gets full seats
- 2023-01-12 14:29:57.0 Source: Xinhuanet
The Asian preliminaries of the Durban World Table Tennis Championships started on the 11th. Ma Long defeated Japanese player Hayabusa Togami 4:2 and qualified for the final stage of the World Table Tennis Championships for the Chinese team. As a result, Guoping won the World Table Tennis Championships Seats are fully booked for singles events.
In the second round of the men’s singles group match on the 10th, Ma Long and Japanese player Maharu Yoshimura played seven rounds and lost 3:4 regrettably. In the match against Hayasuke Togami, Ma Long won the first three rounds with 11:6, 11:6, and 11:6. Afterwards, Hayasuke Togami launched a counterattack and pulled back two rounds with 11:3 and 11:6. In the critical sixth game, Ma Long won 11:9, thereby obtaining the World Table Tennis Championships place for the Chinese team.
After the game, Malone said that his training was not very systematic recently. He felt that the ball was very raw on the court, and there were many unnecessary mistakes, which left many opportunities for the opponent. “Even if I lead 3:0 in today’s game, I still seem not so sure on the field. In terms of skills and tactics, I did a little better in stalemate with the ball today than yesterday.” He said.
On the 10th, Fan Zhendong, Wang Chuqin, Liang Jingkun and Xiang Peng qualified for the men’s singles at the World Table Tennis Championships for the Chinese team. Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng, Wang Manyu, Wang Yidi, and Chen Xing won the women’s singles competition. With Ma Long winning the qualifying match, the Chinese team has secured five seats in the men’s singles and women’s singles finals of the Durban World Table Tennis Championships. In addition, the Chinese team also won full seats in men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
The final stage of the 2023 World Table Tennis Championships will be held in Durban, South Africa from May 20 to 28.
