59-year-old Ni shines as Luxembourg upsets S. Korea on Day 1 of table tennis worlds-Xinhua

59-year-old Ni shines as Luxembourg upsets S. Korea on Day 1 of table tennis worlds

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

2022-09-30 23:48:15

Ni Xialian of Luxembourg reacts while competing with Jeon Jihee of South Korea during the women's group 4 match at the 2022 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in Chengdu, China, Sept. 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)

59-year-old Ni played a decisive part in Luxembourg's upset win over South Korea at the world team table tennis championships.

CHENGDU, China, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Fifty-nine-year-old paddler Ni Xialian nailed two points and led Luxembourg to win 3-1 over South Korea in the women's team group stage as the World Team Table Tennis Championships got underway here on Friday.

Ni, currently world No. 41, sprang a surprise to see off 16th-ranked Jeon Jihee 11-4, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9 in a battle of left-handers before she rallied past Lee Zion in full sets, 11-3, 10-12, 11-9, 7-11, 11-4.

South Korea, the better team on paper with all its players ranked in the world's top 100, got off to a quick start as Lee breezed past Sarah de Nutte 11-9, 11-4, 11-9, but failed to run away with the tie against Ni's efforts.

Tessy Gonderinger was the other point winner for Luxembourg, beating Kim Hayeong 12-10, 11-9, 2-11, 11-9.

A Shanghai native, Ni moved to Luxembourg in the late 1980s. She has represented the European country five times in the Olympic Games and made the podium in the World Table Tennis Championships, pairing with De Nutte in Houston last year.

Ni Xialian of Luxembourg hits a return to Jeon Jihee of South Korea during the women's group 4 match at the 2022 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in Chengdu, China, Sept. 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)

"I have nothing to lose, and what I want from a match is just to enjoy the process," Ni said, revealing her secret to winning after the Group 4 match.

Also on Friday, Olympic silver medalists Japan made a short work of their Slovakian rivals 3-0 in Group 2, while the third seeds, Hong Kong, China, also won their first Group 3 match in straight games over Italy.

On the men's part, world No. 8 Darko Jorgic lived up to his name, and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic quarterfinalist won twice to lift Slovenia 3-1 past Puerto Rico in Group 1, where the United States beat Thailand 3-2.

Newly-crowned European champion Qiu Dang had a relatively easy first day, taking a straight-set win over Denis Zholudev and helping Olympic runners-up Germany win 3-0 over Kazakhstan.

In other men's team group encounters, Hong Kong, China kicked off their campaign with a 3-1 win over Hungary, while Japan eased past Iran 3-0 in Group 3, South Korea and Egypt both claimed 3-0 wins in Group 4.

Having a rest day on the opening day of the competition hosts China will play their first match on Saturday when their men's team takes on Puerto Rico and their women's counterparts will later play Canada.

The Championships opened Thursday evening in the presence of Liu Guoliang, president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, alongside Khalil Al-Mohannadi, president of the Asian Table Tennis Union. China has won the Swaythling (for men) and Corbillon (for women) Cups each 21 times and start as favorites to retain them. 

Comments

Comments (0)
Send

    Follow us on