5/4/2009        H.I.S. 2009 World Table Tennis Championships

China’s Chen Qi and Wang Hao, the no.1 seeds, justified their position in the draw, by winning the Men’s Doubles title at the final expense of colleagues and no.2 seeds, Ma Long and Xu Xin, at the H.I.S. World Championships in the Yokohama Arena on Monday 4th May 2009.

It was for Chen Qi a successful defence of the title; in Zagreb in 2007, he had secured the top prize with Ma Lin, the man with whom he won gold in Athens at the Olympic Games in 2004.

In Yokohama, in harness with Wang Hao, victory went his way yet again; the winning margin being 6-11, 13-11, 13-11, 11-5, 11-9.

A four games to one success but it could so easily have been different.

Opening Reverse
Ma Long and Xu Xin captured the opening game; neither having competed in a World or Olympic final as opposed to their rivals, who have competed in such prestigious duel, they settled quickly and acclimatised.

Against the Japanese pairing of Seiya Kishikawa and Jun Mizutani earlier in the day, Xu Xin had been the architect of success; in the opening game once again he fulfilled that role.

Level Rises
Stung by the reverse, Chen Qi and Wang Hao fought, with Chen Qi adopting the role of the “architect” and Wang Hao being the “killer”.

The level of play rose with athletic topspin rallies entertaining the crowd who had hoped for a Japanese presence but appreciated the great skills presented by the four Chinese stars.

Close Games
A close game was the order of the day with the verdict going in favour of Chen Qi and Wang Hao and it was the same in the third game.

Boosted by the close second game win, Chen Qi and Wang Hao went ahead 4-1 and 5-2 in the third game; it appeared they were going to run away with matters.

It was not the situation, Ma Long and Xu Xin had other ideas.

The levelled at 9-all and at 10-9, held game point; there was an opportunity, it went begging; no further opportunities to secure a game arose.

Ma Long and Xu Xin saved one game point but they could not save a second; Chen Qi and Wang Hao had a one game lead.

High Level
The close win appeared to relax Chen Qi who true to his nature, played at a quite incredible level for the rest of the match.

He was outstanding, equally Wang Hao accelerated, it was his day having earlier beaten Ma Long in the semi-finals of the Men’s Singles event.

In relatively quick-fire style the fourth game was secured.

Confidence
Increasingly confident, Chen Qi and Wang Hao went ahead 5-3 in the fifth game. Ma Long and Xu Xin called “Time Out”, the duo fought; they showed a splendid spirit with a tremendous counter topspin rally securing match point for Chen Qi and Wang Hao at 10-9.

An opportunity had arisen, it was clinched, Chen Qi and Wang Hao had fully justified their top seeded position; for Chen Qi it was title retained, for Wang Hao it was title regained, he had won in Shanghai in 2005 with Kong Linghui.

New Partnership on Roll of Honour
A new partnership had succeeded, a new pairing was inscribed on the roll of honour, the names were Chen Qi and Wang Hao.