China Trounces World All-Stars

CHANGSHA, Hunan, China - In the inaugural team event christened World vs. China Table Tennis Challenge, China gave no quarter to the World Stars United team for a dominant 8-2 victory.

Liu Guoliang, China's head coach, said: "We expected closer results. They did not play their best."

The teams consisted of all-time great Jan-Ove Waldner, the World Champion of 1989 and 1997 and Olympic champion of 1992, current Olympic champion Ryu Seung Min, current World Champion Werner Schlager, and top European players Timo Boll and Vladimir Samsonov. The Chinese home team had former World and Olympic Champion Kong Linghui (1995 and 2000 respectively), current #1 ranked player and 2004 Olympic runner-up Wang Hao, and #2 and #3 ranked Wang Liqin and Ma Lin and #5 and rising with a bullet Chen Qi.

In front of thousands local fans, Wang Hao started the rout by beating Vladimir Samsonov 3-1 with his faster shots.

However, it was former Olympic champion Kong Linghui and all-time great Jan-Ove Waldner receiving the wildest ovation.

Waldner, 39, stunned a group of big names en route to entering the last four of men's singles at the Athens Olympic Games, including China's world number one player Ma Lin.

Waldner, who also eliminated Kong/Wang Hao in early round of the doubles in Athens, couldn't find his game, losing 0-3 (7-11, 6-11, 10-12) to Kong.

Waldner said: "It's always difficult to play against Chinese players. Kong is my friend and 10 years younger. We played a good match for the spectators."

With a poor record against Ma Lin, Timo Boll had a sluggish start and was defeated 1-3 by the world's top paddler.

Boll, who usually lost to Ma 1-4 or 2-4, had a good chance to beat Ma in the Pro Tour Finals two days ago in Beijing when he led 3-1 before Ma came back to finish 4-3.

Boll said: "I had a bad start today. But I was getting closer with Ma after recent matches. I can say I'm improved but I still need to find more tactics to beat him."

The newly-crowned Olympic doubles winner Chen Qi left no mercy to the reigning Olympic champion Ryu Seung Min for a 3-1 victory (11-7, 11-8, 7-11, 11-4).

Chen said: "I've heard that he was injured and had rest for at least 10 days. It was true because when we played, I could feel that on the court."

In the fifth game of the team event, Werner Schlager was overpowered by Wang Liqin 1-3.

Schlager became a "marked man" after he won the World title in 2003. Said Schalger, "I knew that I have to be careful for each game and each rival after I won the world championships."

On the second day, China had a much closer 3-2 victory over the World Stars United.

China took a 2-0 lead before Timo Boll and Werner Schlager snatched two wins to make it 2-2.

It was a sweet "revenge" for Ma Lin who stormed past all-time great Jan-Ove Swede Waldner 3-0 (11-8, 11-5, 11-9).

The 39-year-old Waldner stunned pre meet favorite Ma in early round at the Athens Olympic Games before he finished fourth.

Ma said: "In fact, this match can't be called a revenge. It's different competition. I was in great pressure when I was in Athens."

Former Olympic champion Kong Linghui had difficulties at the beginning of his match before coming from one game down to beat Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus 3-1 (9-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-8).

Samsonov said: "I played better than yesterday. I had a chance in the first game. Hopefully I can beat Kong next time we meet."

Timo Boll produced the first victory for the World Stars United as he knocked off Olympic runner-up Wang Hao 3-1 (11-6, 6-11, 14-12, 11-9).

Boll admitted the 0-5 team skunk on Tuesday boosted his fighting spirit. "We had bad draws yesterday. But today I played better and felt good."

Wang admitted that Boll played beyond his expectation. Wang said: "He saved many balls that seemed impossible to return."

Reigning world champion Werner Schlager continued Boll's win, edging Chen Qi 3-2 (12-10, 5-11, 8-11, 11-7, 13-11).

Schlager waved his hands to the crowd and said: "I'm glad. It's the first time I beat Chen. I lost to him twice. It was a close game and a tough fight for techniques."

In the fifth and decisive game of the day, Olympic champion Ryu Seung Min overcame his shoulder injury but not his rival Wang Liqin, losing 3-2 (9-11, 11-7, 11-3, 5-11, 11-4).

China's men's team head coach Liu Guoliang said: "It was a real fight between us. Both teams played better than yesterday. It is good to promote the sport, not only in China, but also in the world."

In the end, the Chinese team proved to be too fast and technically proficient for the World team. The Chinese consistently set the pace, at times toying with their counterparts. Chen Qi showed off a 3rd ball attack that utterly ravaged his opponents. The Chinese pace was of a higher caliber, leaving the World players muttering under their breath, and whisking away minute particles of dust off of the table. It remains to be seen if the World players can match their victorious chinese counterparts at a later dat. Congratulations to China and the World team for an exciting tournament in what will likely be the first in a long line of stand-off tournaments.

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