The silver medallists one week ago at the first GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour Tournament, the Hungarian Open; the same fate befell the partnership of Fan Ying and Wu Yang at the Slovenian Open in Velenje on Sunday 29th January.
Just over one week ago, they were beaten in five games at the final hurdle by Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen; some eight days later Ding Ning proved their nemesis yet again, only this time in partnership with Guo Yan.
Furthermore, the victory in the all Chinese final in Velenje was slightly more convincing than in Budapest.
Totally focused, Ding Ning and Guo Yan posted a four straight games success (12-10, 12-10, 11-9, 11-8).
First Title Runners up to compatriots Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia at the H.I.S. World Championships in Yokohama in 2009 and again two years later in Rotterdam at the GAC GROUP 2011 World Championships, the win in Velenje is, somewhat surprisingly, the first international title won by Ding Ning and Guo Yan as a partnership.
Both have gained success with other Chinese National Team colleagues but never as a pairing.
Nemesis Consistently, Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia have been their nemesis.
In addition to their two World Championships defeats, they were beaten by Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia at the semi-final stage of the Women’s Doubles event at the Harmony China Open in 2009 and in 2011 in the final Qatar.
Reaching the final in Qatar is their best previous performance and their only final on the ITTF Pro Tour.
Last Year Repeated Meanwhile, for Fan Ying and Wang Nan it was their fifth Women’s Doubles final on Tour and again, it was second place.
One year ago in Slovenia they suffered the same fate losing to Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia in the final; whilst later in the year they beaten by Ding Ning and Li Xiaoxia in the gold medal match.
Twice runners up in 2011, the same now in 2012, the two defenders do have one title to their credit; in 2009 they succeeded at the Polish Open beating colleagues Guo Yan and Wang Xuan in the final.
An Air of Revenge In Velenje Guo Yan gained revenge.
It was the first time the pairings had met in international competition.
