Pang Yew En Koen: China booked three places in both singles and doubles semifinals at the 2023 World Table Tennis (WTT) Men’s Finals here on Thursday.In the singles quarterfinals, China’s world No. 1 Fan Zhendong breezed past Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna 11-6, 11-9, 11-4, Lin Gaoyuan edged compatriot Ma Long 11-4, 5-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, and Wang Chuqin beat Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto in straight sets, reported Xinhua.
Wang described his win over Harimoto as “fortunate”, saying, “Harimoto is an old opponent, and we are both very familiar with each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”
Germany’s Qiu Dang, who had edged past China’s Lin Shidong in the round of 16, pulled off a narrow win again in the quarterfinal against China’s Liang Jingkun.
Qiu won the thriller 2-11, 14-12, 6-11, 11-9, 11-6 and will meet Wang in the semifinals.
Wang said, “(Facing Qiu in the next match), given his current momentum, it will undoubtedly be a very challenging game that requires thorough preparation.”
In the doubles quarterfinals, China’s pair of Fan and Wang secured a 3-1 win over Wong Chun Ting and Ho Kwan Kit of Hong Kong, China.
Elsewhere, Lin Gaoyuan and Lin Shidong also won 3-1 over Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Patrick Franziska, Yuan Licen and Xiang Peng edged Japanese duo Yukiya Uda and Shunsuke Togami 3-2, and France’s Lebrun brothers Alexis and Felix eased past Singapore’s Pang Yew En Koen and Quek Izaac 3-0.
The semifinals and finals for the men’s singles and doubles will take place on Friday.
