Photo:Double-crowned XU Xin(left) and CHEN Meng (right)/By Rallys Editional
Seamaster 2019 ITTF World Tour SHINHAN Korea open was held from July 2nd to 7th, with a total of 5 titles, men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mix doubles were held. In this tournament, South Korean players were seen to be closer to Chinese players with local support. In men’s singles event, LIM Jonghoon (Korea) put MA Long (China) into a corner in deuce of 7 games, who won the world championship three times in a row. Furthermore, JEOUNG Youngsik (Korea) made a big upset against FAN Zhendong (China), who had kept world No.1 for 15months.
In women’s singles, however, China dominated the top 4 ended up showing how difficult to win Chinese players. WONG Chun Ting/DOO Hoi Kem (HongKong) won the mix doubles title by beating world champion XU Xin/LIU Shiwen (China), preventing China from securing all titles.
Men’s results:
Photo:JEOUNG Youngsik (Korea)/By Rallys Editional
XU Xin (China) secured Men’s singles title, and Ma Long (China) was runner-up. HARIMOTO Tomokazu, who was the only one wining top 8, was beaten by China’s next-generation ace WANG Chuqin (China) in the quarter finals. On the other hand, MIZUTANI Jun (Japan) and NIWA Koki (Japan) lost against KARLSSON Kristian (Sweden) and CHO Seungmin (Korea) respectively.
YOSHIMURA Maharu carried out a sweet revenge against SUN Wen (China), who beat YOSHIMURA Maharu in Japan open in June, and inspired the former part of the tournament.
FAN Zhendong /XU Xin (China) won the men’s doubles title, Korean ace pair JEOUNG Youngsik /LEE Sangsu (Korea) was encouraged by Korean cheers, but came in second place.
In spite of their good fight, MORIZONO Masataka/ YOSHIMURA Maharu (Japan) lost against champion pair ended up at the top 4. HARIMOTO Tomokazu/NIWA Koki was beaten by runner-up pair ended up at the top8.
Women’s results:
Photo: ISHIKAWA Kasumi (Japan), who made a breakthrough through stable attacks/ By Rallys Editional
CHEN Meng (China) claimed women’s singles title, and DING Ning (China) won the second prize.
Japanese ISHIKAWA Kasumi and ITO Mima won the top 8. Even though ISHIKAWA Kasumi leads 3-1 against SUN Yingsha (China) －who won ISHIKAWA in Japan open－ with determined play, lose a close game ended up the big comeback.
ITO Mima fought with WANG Manyu (China) for the first time from China open held in May. It was a regrettable defeat that she could not play her own way and was swallowed by the WANG’s momentum. Even though HIRANO Miu lost against CHEN Meng, she seemed to feel that she had improved her ability to change tactics and became confident in playing during the game.
Women’s doubles champion was CHEN Meng/WANG Manyu (China), and CHOI Hyojoo/YANG Haeun (Korea) was the runner-up. China Open third place finisher NAKAMORI Honami /ODO Satsuki (Japan) took 1 game away from the runner-up pair but lost. The problem to overcome was left in the scoring pattern. However, both of them were in the top 8, and future growth is expected.
Mix doubles results:
Photo: WONG Chun Ting (right)/DOO Hoi Kem (left) won the mix doubles title./By Rallys Editional
WONG Chun Ting/DOO Hoi Kem (HongKong) won the mix doubles title, preventing China from securing all titles. The runner-up was world championship’s gold pair XU Xin/LIU Shiwen (China).
Despite the lose against Chines pair, MIZUTANI Jun/ITO Mima beat Chinese Taipei’s formidable enemy LIN Yun-Ju/ CHENG I-Ching. It was the first time for them from the same hometown to play doubles in the world tournament, but they showed great performance from the first match and made it to the semifinals, showing their high potential.
Meanwhile, YOSHIMURA Maharu/ISHIKAWA Kasumi, who have advanced to the finals of the world championships 3 times in a row, gave in to the rally power of SZUDI Adam/ PERGEL Szandra (Hungary).
Rallys Editional
