12/22/2007 2007 Tournament of Champions

The Men’s Singles final at the Tournament of Champions in Changsha on Saturday 22nd December 2007 saw the two players who occupy the first two places on the current ITTF Men’s World Ranking list in action.

Wang Hao and Ma Lin, both penhold grip players in an age when the majority of table tennis players adopt the shakehands grip faced each other.

Victory went to Wang Hao.

He won 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-13, 11-6.

 12/22/2007 2007 Tournament of Champions

Wang Nan won the Women’s Singles title at the Tournament of Champions in Changsha on Saturday 22nd December 2007 beating Li Xiaoxia in an all-Chinese final.

Winner of Volkswagen Women’s World Cup in September, Wang Nan displayed the form that brought her Olympic and World titles.

Throughout the contest she stayed close to the table in typical style to win in five games.

She succeeded 11-5, 9-11, 12-10, 11-6, 6-11, 6-11, 11-9 to reverse the result of previous duels against Li Xiaoxia.

 12/22/2007 2007 Tournament of Champions

The meeting on Saturday 22nd December 2007, at the semi-final stage of the Men’s Singles event at the Tournament of Champions in Changsha, was the twenty-ninth in World Ranking events between Ma Lin and Wang Liqin, with the balance very slightly in favour of the latter.

However, in their three meetings in 2007 the figures were in favour of Ma Lin; he had won in Qatar and Germany on the ITTF Pro Tour but had lost in what was arguably the most important clash of all. He had suffered in the final of the Men’s Singles event at the Liebherr World Championships in Zagreb.

At the Tournament of Champions Ma Lin made it three wins out of four in the current year.

 12/22/2007 2007 Tournament of Champions

Previous results between Wang Nan and Wang Yue Gu, the semi-finalists in the Women’s Singles event at the Tournament of Champions in Changsha, China, were very much in favour of the player from the host nation.

Wang Nan had won their two previous meetings, both on the ITTF Pro Tour when she had succeeded in the third round of the Women’s Singles event at the Volkswagen Open China in 2006 and in November 2007 in the semi-finals at the Liebherr French Open. In Changsha she succeeded again and she succeeded in very impressive style.

 12/22/2007 2007 Tournament of Champions

The odds for the first Men’s Singles semi-final in the Tournament of Champions in the studios of Hunan Television on Saturday 22nd December 2007 were stacked massively in favour of the host nation’s Wang Hao.

He had won all nine of his previous meetings in World Ranking events against Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus, the most recent having been the previous week at the quarter-final stage of the Men’s Singles event at the Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals.

In Changsha tradition was maintained. Wang Hao won a titanic struggle 12-14, 14-12, 11-6, 4-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-6.

 12/22/2007 2007 Tournament of Champions

They travelled together on the same bus alongside Wang Hao from the Crowne Plaza hotel to the venue of the Hunan Television Studios in the Chinese city of Changsha for their semi-final duel in the Women’s Singles event at the Tournament of Champions on Saturday 22nd December 2003.

Both Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia were deep in silent preparation; the latter trying to relieve the tension by sending text messages to friends. Neither uttered a word during the thirty minute journey. At the end of the contest they both left equally quietly, both deep in the thought with the victor being Li Xiaoxia; she succeeded in impressive style winning 8-11, 16-14, 11-7, 11-3, 11-5.

 12/21/2007 2007 Tournament of Champions

It was a long journey but it will no doubt prove to be the memorable and one of the most worthwhile in the life of nineteen year Ashley Willetts from the city of Portsmouth on the south coast of England, a city steeped in naval traditions.

In early November 2007, with coach Tong Feiming, the pair travelled to the Chinese city of Changsha in order for the young Englishman to compete in the qualification tournament for the Hunan Table Tennis Carnival on Thursday 20th December 2007.

The young Englishmen finished in runners up spot and duly qualified; undoubtedly, it was the most important result of his career, a dream occasion was to follow.