Long overcomes Zhendong to win in Doha Shiwen clinches women's title

Date

3/28/2016 4:12:48 AM

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(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Ma Long of China winner of the singles title at the Qatar Open table tennis championship poses with his trophy at the victory ceremony in Doha yesterday. Top seed Long defeated compatriot Fan Zhendong the no.2 seed in five games (11-8 11-9 5-11 13-11 11-5). Qatar Olympic Committee General Secretary Dr Thani Abdulrahman Al Kuwari and Qatar Table Tennis Association (QTTA) President Khalil Ahmed Al Mohanadi are seen. RIGHT: Liu Shiwen the winner of the women’s singles title receiving the winner’s cheque from QTTA President Khalil. Shiwen defeated compatriot Ding Ning in the final.

Doha: China’s Ma Long defeated compatriot Fan Zhendong to win the Men’s Singles title at the 2016 ITTF World Tour Qatar Open.

Liu Shiwen completed the Chinese domination by winning the women’s singles crown while the men’s and women’s doubles titles also went the China way.

Yesterday at the state-of-the-art Ali Bin Hamad al Attyiah Arena the top seed in the men’s singles won in five games 11-8 11-9 5-11 13-11 11-5 to make amends for last week’s loss to colleague Zhang Jike in the final in Kuwait.

The result means that Long maintains his ascendancy over Zhendong they have now met on seven occasions in world ranking events and Long has won all seven.

However the contest in Doha was not as dramatic as their most recent previous duel.

Action from the men’s singles final. RIGHT: Liu Shiwen and Ding Ning the doubles winners with their trophies.

At the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals last December in Lisbon in the seventh game of their clash in the Men’s Singles final Zhendong had led 6-3 and then lost the next seven points. Eventually Long secured victory on his third match point.

“We both played well there might not have been many fantastic rallies but we were both fully focused” said Long.

“It’s only been a month since the World Championships in Kuala Lumpur and we didn’t have much rest to recover to our best state.”

“It was a very tight match the first three games that I won were both decided by the minimal two points” added Long.

“It was not easy at all the first three games were the most critical in the match.”

Success for a Long in his 32nd second ITTF World Tour Men’s Singles final; it was his 22nd win and he is now the most successful of the Chinese male players. He surpasses Wang Liqin who won on 21 occasions.

He trails Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus who has 26 such titles but if you add the Grand Finals he is only one behind.

Samsonov has won the Men’s Singles title at the Grand Finals on one occasion Long has won four times; thus overall Samsonov has 27 Men’s Singles titles Long is one behind 26 in total.

In the women’s singles Shiwen took sweet revenge of her dramatic final at the Qoros 2015 World Championships in Suzhou just under one year ago.

The top seed accounted for Chinese colleague Ding Ning the no.2 seed in the title deciding contest; a five game outcome was the end result 11-8 9-11 11-8 11-9 11-9.

“I think the match itself wasn’t as exciting as we had hoped it would be probably because this is the second consecutive World Tour event so we were a little exhausted” said Shiwen who had proved the model of consistency her movement and balance an example to all.

However Shiwen faces the biggest test of her character in the next few months.

“We are in a crucial period of time where our internal competition is very intense to qualify for Rio” added Shiwen.

“This win definitely helps in boosting my confidence.”

The avowed aim is to compete in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Looking ahead but looking back Shiwen can reflect on her performance in Doha with pride; it is a city where in the past she has enjoyed success in previous years.

It was the fourth time that she had reached the Women’s Singles final at an ITTF World Tour tournament in Qatar and the third time she had faced Ning in the final.

In 2010 she made her first appearance in the title deciding match; she was beaten in the final by her colleague Guo Yue; in 2011 and 2013 she faced Ning in the final on both occasions in the former year she won in the latter it was defeat.

Shiwen earlier won the doubles title partnering Ding Ning.

At the final hurdle the Chinese pair were severely tested by the Japanese combination of Ai Fukuhara and Mima Ito the no.7 seeds.

Eventually the Chinese justified their top seeded position to emerge successful is five games 6-11 11-9 11-6 4-11 11-7.

The Peninsula