Chinese women's table-tennis world champions are wrestling with
their teammates for passes to a World Championship that is already
proving quite a trek away.
Twenty-one athletes competed in 20 matches in the first
round-robin phase in Zhongshan City, southern Guangdong Province from Monday to Thursday,
leaving no player unbeaten.
The newly-crowned Asian champion, Guo Yue ranked top among the
athletes, by winning 17 matches, followed by world champion Zhang
Yining and Li Xiaoxia, both of whom lost four games.
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Veteran Wang Nan recorded a demoralizing eight losses and was
therefore seeded no higher than No.10. 20-year-old Peng Luyang was
the darkest horse in the round. She dominated the games against big
names including Zhang Yining, Guo Yue and Wang Nan ranking in
fourth place.
The inner-team Round Robin was introduced by the team coaches to
pick the most capable players to represent China in the World
Championships scheduled in May in Zagreb, capital of Croatia.
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The top 14 players in the first phase, together with another two
athletes selected by the coach team, will compete in the second
phase to open next month.
The Men's qualifiers starts on Friday in Beijing. Sixteen
players will compete.?
(CRI February 10, 2007)
