Ma Lin and Wang Nan strike gold (Paris 2003)
Mixed Doubles: Final
Title winner at the 1999 World Championships in Eindhoven, Ma Lin has been crowned World mixed doubles champion for the second time, this time alongside Wang Nan after the Chinese duo brought their campaign in the French capital to a successful conclusion.
Facing off against another Chinese pair in the final, Liu Guozheng and Bai Yang started the stronger of the finalists moving into a 1-2 lead having won game three without dropping a single point! Ma and Wang regathered their composure and with three of the following four games going in their favour the title was won (9-11, 12-10, 0-11, 11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8).
Early departures for former World champions!!! (Paris 2003)
Men’s Singles: Round of 64
Wow, wow, wow! Incredible scenes here in Paris as three former World champions have exited the men’s singles race with surprise defeats.
Gold medallist in 1989, Jan-Ove Waldner was bested by Greece’s Kostantinos Papageorgiou while 1991 champion and fellow Swede Jörgen Persson lost out to Hong Kong China’s Leung Chu Yan. 1993 winner Jean-Philippe Gatien is also out with the French star failing to come through his fixture against Romanian counterpart Adrian Crisan. Talk about drama!
Olympic champion extends her stay (Gothenburg 1993)
Women’s Singles: Quarter-Finals
Women’s singles gold medallist at the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games, Chen Jing is through to the 1993 World Championships semi-finals.
Meeting Zheng Yuan in a tricky affair, Chinese Taipei’s Chen Jing was made to work hard for her win but on the whole she proved the more composed player and was never really in doubt (21-17, 25-23, 20-22, 21-17).
Bădescu stuns two-time runner-up (Gothenburg 1993)
Women’s Singles: Quarter-Finals
Negotiating a marathon encounter during yesterday’s action, Romania’s Otilia Bădescu is back amongst the headlines once again with another exceptional victory to her name.
Silver medallist in 1989 and 1991, Ri Pun-Hui was aiming to go one better this time out and finally stand atop the podium. However, Bădescu had other ideas, toppling Ri across four games (21-13, 21-13, 20-22, 21-19) to secure her ticket to the penultimate round.
Former bronze medallist Andrzej Grubba exits! (Gothenburg 1993)
Men’s Singles: Round of 16
Just four years ago Andrzej Grubba was celebrating an excellent bronze medal finish at the 1989 World Championships in Dortmund, but here in Gothenburg it is a Round of 16 exit for the Polish star.
The man responsible for Grubba’s elimination was none other than young Belgian player Jean-Michel Saive who produced a fantastic display, needing just the three games to seal the win (21-17, 21-15, 21-19). Belgian table tennis has an exciting future ahead!
Zoran Primorac edges full-distance thriller (Gothenburg 1993)
Men’s Singles: Round of 16
Two of the European continent’s finest have just played out an epic contest in the men’s singles last 16 with Croatia’s Zoran Primorac and Germany’s Jörg Rosskopf going the full five-game distance.
Neither player was able to establish a clear advantage throughout the tie for as soon as one took the lead the other would respond immediately. In the end, Primorac held the slight edge and it proved enough to see him through to the quarter-finals (21-15, 14-21, 21-16, 16-21, 21-16).
