World Cup hopes in tatters, three times champion suffers second defeat

by Ian Marshall & Simon Daish

Beaten by Frenchman, Emmanuel Lebesson, the no.11 seed (13-15, 11-4, 6-1, 11-6, 11-9); he experienced defeat at the hands of Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia, the no.7 seed (12-10, 8-11, 11-5, 15-13).

Earlier, in his opening contest, Tiago Apolonia had accounted for Ukraine’s Kou Lei, the 12 seed (8-11, 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7) and remains the only unbeaten player in the group. In the second series of matches, Kou Lei overcame Emmanuel Lebesson in three straight games (11-8, 11-9, 11-3).

Defeat for one former Men’s World Cup winner but not for a second; German’s Timo Boll, who emerged successful in Jinan in 2002 and three years later in Liège, maintained his winning ways. The no.3 seed, he beat Austria’s Stefan Fegerl, the no.6 seed, in four games (9-11, 11-3, 11-5, 11-8).

Meanwhile, in the same group, for Panagiotis Gionis of Greece, the no.15 seed, narrowly beaten by Stefan Fegerl in his opening match (7-11, 11-5, 12-10, 5-11, 11-9); it was back to winning ways.

He accounted for Sweden’s Mattias Karlsson, the no.10 seed (11-5, 11-9, 13-11).

“I think I played quite good against Mattias Karlsson, I was concentrating well. I think also that I like how my opponent was playing this time. I was very focused, I needed to win this game three-nil or three-one to have a very small chance to qualify. If I had beaten Fegerl it would have been good for me. Maybe in the second game against Mattias I lost a little bit of my concentration; but in the end I was fine”, Panagiotis Gionis.

After two series of matches Timo Boll is the only unbeaten player in the group.