Table Tennis

That confirmed the singles sweep as the men's singles was an all-Chinese affair, in which Liang Jingkun beat 17-year-old compatriot Lin Shidong 4-2 (11-6,9-11,10-12,12-10,12-10,11-9) in the best of seven final, which was a much closer affair. This was also Wang's second consecutive WTT Star Contender title, after her win in Budapest in July last year.

The men's and women's singles final lineups were also drawn up on the day with powerhouses China taking three of the four spots available. It is all set for the final day on Sunday, which will see the men's and women's doubles finals, besides the two singles finals taking place at the Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium in Taleigao.

Lin defeated the tournament's second seed Ovtcharov in straight sets 11-7, 11-3, 13-11, 11-8 in the final. The 17-year-old Chinese thus stood atop the podium for the second time at the tournament, after he had paired up with Kuai Man to win the mixed doubles on Saturday with an 11-3, 11-7, 11-8 victory over Romanian duo Ovidiu Ionescu and Bernadette Szocs, bringing home their fifth straight WTT title in the category coming into 2023.

Manika's impressive outing at the WTT Contender Doha last week, where she reached the semifinals, helped her to gain three spots in the world rankings. In November last year, she became the first Indian women paddler to win a medal at the Asian Cup and only the second Indian to achieve the feat after Chetan Baboor bagged a silver in 1997 and a bronze in 2000.

After winning the titles in the women's singles, women's doubles, men's doubles and mixed doubles on Saturday, the Chinese team repeated what it had achieved one week ago in Durban, South Africa. In an all-Chinese women's singles final, Fan Siqi came out on top with a full-set victory over Zhang Rui. Fan recovered from two sets down to edge past Zhang 6-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5.

The 27-year-old paddler ranked 36th in the world, hampered by an injury, was far from her best and although she won the first game, she could not maintain the same momentum against World No. 24 Zhang who came full guns blazing to win the next three games in a match that lasted 18 minutes. In the other semifinal, Siqi Fan beat fellow Chinese player Liu Weishan with a 3-1 scoreline to set up an all-Chinese final on Saturday.

The 27-year-old overcame her Korean rival 11-6, 11-9, 4-11, 5-11, 11-7 in 41 minutes to set up a last-four clash with World No. 24 Zhang Rui of China. Manika started on a rosy note against Choi, winning the first two games but lost the next two before lifting her game by a few notches to win the fifth and deciding game and seal a last-four spot.

In the singles category, both Manika and Sharath Kamal Achanta registered wins over players ranked much higher on the rankings table to make it to the last 16 stage. In mixed doubles, Sathiyan and Batra registered a hard-fought 3-2 win over Tin-Tin Ho and Samuel Walker of England. The Indian pair, which finished runners-up at the 2022 WTT Doha Contender held in January last year, fought hard to register a 3-2 (6-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8) win to set up a last 8 clash with Maria Xiao and Alvaro Robles of Spain.

China's Qian Tianyi broke open a 1-1 tie after two sets to get past her compatriot Fan Siqi 4-1 to be crowned the women's singles champion. Three doubles events of the tournament featured all-Chinese finals. Zhang Rui and Kuai Man beat Qian and Shi Xunyao 3-1 in the women's doubles final, while Chen Yuanyu and Lin Shidong defeated Xu Yingbin and Xu Haidong 3-1 in the men's doubles title contention.

Despite Ma's shock defeat, China has secured four men's and five women's singles berths at the World Table Tennis Championships (WTTC) Finals. Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng, Wang Yidi and Chen Xingtong all claimed straight-sets victories in the women's singles, while their fellow Chinese teammate Wang Manyu rallied past Choi Hyo-Joo of South Korea 4-1, reports news agency Xinhua.