| Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor | |
| Early Exit For Olympic & World Champion | |
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Twenty-one year old Jiang Huajun caused one of the year’s major shocks when on the morning of Thursday 23rd February 2006, at the Kuwait International Open, she beat the reigning Olympic and World champion, Zhang Yining in the second round of the Women’s Singles event. Jiang Huajun won 11-4, 11-6, 14-12, 9-11, 7-11, 11-4. |
| It is one of the very few occasions in an international competition that Zhang Yining has lost to a player representing a national association other than China; the only case that comes to memory is her defeat at the hands of Germany’s Nicole Struse at the Greek Open in 2004. Reversal of Fortunes The victory achieved by Jiang Huajun marks a quite incredible reversal in fortunes. She moved from her native China in 2005 to play for Hong Kong; she played in both the Liebherr German Open and the Liebherr Swedish Open but did not reproduce the form that she had shown two years earlier when representing China on the ITTF Pro Tour. In 2002 she reached the semi-finals of the Women’s Singles event in Egypt and in the same year was the runner up in Korea. However, at the Liebherr German Open and Liebherr Swedish Opens in 2005 there were first round exits at the hands of Elke Wosik and Matilda Ekholm respectively. Turn For The Better However, in 2006 matters have taken a turn for the better; at the Liebherr Qatar Open she beat China’s Cao Zhen before losing to Nicole Struse and attributed her success to the fact that she was now settled in the Hong Kong team and had enjoyed celebrating Chinese New Year in her new found home. It was a much improved performance in Qatar whilst in Kuwait you simply cannot do any better than beating the very best in the World! Pressure “I’m really very happy”, said Jiang Huajun. “It’s very difficult to beat her.” Perhaps something of understatement; most would say that task is virtually impossible. “Today I played without pressure, the pressure was on Zhang Yining, not me”, she continued. “I played well and Zhang Yining was quite passive.” The ability to play consistently from the backhand has become increasingly a feature of Zhang Yining’s play but it was in this area of the game that Jiang Huajun was able to capitalise. “The rhythm of her backhand was good for me today”, said Jiang Huajun. “My backhand caused her problems and today my backhand was very good.” Effective Backhand Jiang Huajun plays with short pimples on the backhand; when she attacks the ball travels fast and low which means the opponent has to return with a degree of topspin, there is little margin for error but Jiang Huajun made few errors and once she had established a leads confidence grew. “Also, today, my first topspin was good”, continued Jiang Huajun. “I returned service well and it was an open game; that suited me.” Disappointment for Hong Kong It was a fine win and her first against Zhang Yining but for her compatriot, the fourth seed Tie Yana, there was disappointment. She surrendered a three games to nil lead against Romania’s Mihaela Steff to exit proceedings Defeats for the first and third seeds but for the second seed, Guo Yue, no alarms; she beat Nicole Struse in four straight games whilst third seed Guo Yan overcame a spirited Reiko Hiura of Japan in seven games. Success for Guo Yue and Guo Yan and also there was success for their colleagues Li Xiaoxia and Wang Nan. Li Xiaoxia won the all China clash beating Cao Zhen whilst Wang Nan overcame Hong Kong’s Lau Sui Fei. Qualifiers Through Meanwhile the names of two players who progressed through the qualification stage of the Women’s Singles are through to the quarter-finals. Sayaka Hirano won the all Japan clash beating Saki Kanazawa whilst Italy’s Wenling Tan Monfardini overcame Croatia’s Tamara Boros, victory being gained in six games. |
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