by Simon Daish
Join the action from 10.00am local time as Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen face off in the first women’s singles semi-final encounter. A repeat of the 2015 final – on that occasion the “Queen of Hearts” came out on top in a full distance affair but who will take the plaudits this time around?
Then at 11.00am Chen Meng and Wang Manyu will fight it out in a match that will produce a first time finalist. Across their nine previous meetings it is Chen who holds the stronger record with six wins to her name, but don’t be surprised if Wang causes a few issues for the second seed.
Another all-China affair awaits us at 12.00pm as defending champion Ma Long attempts to hold off third seed Lin Gaoyuan in the last eight of the men’s singles draw. The second quarter-final is scheduled for 1.00pm with Liang Jingkun, who knocked out top seed Fan Zhendong in the previous round, looking to get the better of Japan’s Koki Niwa in their first head-to-head encounter on the international stage.
Keep your eyes glued to the screen at 2.00pm as the first gold medal match of the 2019 World Championships will be contested as the mixed doubles tournament draws to a close. Champions in 2017 can Japan’s Maharu Yoshimura and Kasumi Ishikawa successfully defend the title or will the trophy end up in the hands of China’s Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen?
Following a break in play we have the two remaining quarter-final fixtures in the men’s singles race: two of the surprise athletes in Budapest, France’s Simon Gauzy and Sweden’s Mattias Falck will do battle at 6.00pm aiming to become the first European to reach the last four since Timo Boll’s semi-final finish in 2011 while a player from Korea Republic will celebrate success at 7.00pm but will it be no.10 seed Jang Woojin or qualifier An Jaehyun?
Ma Long and Wang Chuqin will pair up in the first semi-final of the men’s doubles event as they meet fellow compatriots Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan in an exciting tie at 8.00pm. History will be made in the day’s concluding match as Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia and Joao Monteiro prepare to face Spain’s Alvaro Robles and Romania’s Ovidiu Ionescu at 9.00pm – will it be Portugal or Spain that reaches a final for the first time?
Be sure to watch the action unfold live with itTV and follow the live blog throughout the course of the day for all the latest from Budapest.
