4/28/2012        GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour, Chile Open

Beaten in Men’s Doubles final at the GAC GROUP 2012 Spanish Open in Almeria six days earlier, Singapore’s Gao Ning and Zhan Jian gained revenge in Santiago on Saturday 28th April.

Seeded no.1, as they were on Spnish soil in Almeria, they accounted for the Japanese pairing of Kenji Matsudaira and Jun Mizutani at the semi-final stage of proceedings at the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour Chile Open.

The pair, who had been untroubled en route to the penultimate round, at no stage conceding a single game, maintained their form against the no.4 seeds clearly having learned from the defeat.

Second Consecutive Week
They recorded a six games victory (11-6, 4-11, 8-11m 11-8, 11-9, 11-8) to book their place in a Men’s Doubles final on the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour, for the second consecutive week.

Defeat
Success for Singapore but there was defeat.

In the counterpart Men’s Doubles semi-final, Gao Ning and Li Hu, the no.2 seeds, suffered a six games reverse at the hands of Korea’s Kim Dong Hyun and Lee Jung Woo, the runners up earlier in the year in both Qatar and Kuwait.

Kim Dong Hyun and Lee Jung Woo, the no.3 seeds, won 11-7, 11-8, 11-7, 4-11, 14-16, 11-8.

Second Seeds Fall
Defeat for Singapore and in the Women’s Doubles event, there was also suffering for Singapore at the penultimate stage.

Li Jiawei and Sun Beibei, the no.2 seeds, experienced defeat at the hands of Japan’s Yuka Ishigaki and Yuri Yamanashi, the no.4 seeds. They were beaten in four straight games (11-6, 11-5, 13-11, 11-5).

All Japanese Final
The win recorded by Yuka Ishigaki and Yuri Yamanashi means that final will be an all Japanese affair.

In the counterpart all-Japanese semi-final Hiroko Fujii and Misako Wakamiya, the no.1 seeds, ended the progress of Ai Fukuhara and Misaki Morizono, the no.3 seeds (8-11, 11-5, 13-11, 11-7, 11-9).

Semi-final success for Yang Zi (left) and Zhan Jian (right) over Kenji Matsudaira and Jun Mizutani
Photo by Cristian Larrain