WANG Liqin
Euro-Asia 2010: WANG Liqin at the top of Asian list
25/02/2010 - The Asian Table Tennis Union announced today the line up for the Europe-Asia All Stars Series in Beijing on 13th -15th April. The team lead by the Olympic and World champion WANG Liqin of China includes also the names of Jun MIZUTANI of Japan, JOO Se Hyuk of Korea, CHEUNG Yuk of Hong Kong and GAO Ning of Singapore.
Less then a week ago WANG Liqin, the most successful male player in the history of the ITTF Pro Tour, won the title in Doha and he proved that he is still at the top. Standing at no. five on the current ITTF World rankings, WANG already has won almost everything in table tennis. He is only missing the gold in singles at the Olympic Games, but he already has won gold in Doubles Event, Team's Event and two bronze medals in singles. WANG Liqin stood at the highest place at the podium of the Singles Event at the World Championships in Zagreb, Shanghai and Osaka, and all in all he has 19 medals from the World Championships.
Jun MIZUTANI of Japan stands at the number 10 at the World rankings. Jun was semifinalist at the World Junior Championships in 2005. At the WC in Yokohama last year he reached the Round of 16 in Singles Event, whilst he had played in the semi final of the Doubles Event. MIZUTANI also played at the Olympics in Beijing and reached Round of 32.
The first leg of 2010 Euro-Asia All Stars Event in Beijing will be the premiere for WANG Liqin and Jun Mizutiani. The other three members of Asian team are already familiar faces at the Event. JOO Se Hyuk of Korea played at both legs of the Event last year. CHEUNG Yuk of Hong Kong played only in Beijing, whilst GAO Ning of Singapore was at the line up in Istanbul. GAO Ning has straight record with two wins against Michael MAZE and Kalinikos KREANGA. CHEUNG Yuk has been defeated against MAZE and Dimitrij OVTCHAROV, whilst JOO only beat Jorgen PERSSON. Korean player suffered defeats against Timo BOLL, Vladimir SAMSONOV and OVTCHAROV.
The European line up includes the names of Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus currnently ranked no. 6, Michael MAZE of Denmark ranked no. 8, Dimitrij OVTCHAROV ranked no. 13 Werner SCHLAGER of Austria ranked no. 16. and Jorgen PERSSON of Sweden ranked no. 22.
Asia and Europe won one stage each in 2010. In Beijing Asia succeeded 6:4 on aggregate, whilst in Istanbul it was 6:5 for Europe.
The second leg of the 2010 All Stars Series Europe-Asia will be held in Belgium's Mons, on 12th and 13th October 2010.
(by Milica NIKOLIC, EWT)
Photo: World Champion WANG Liqin (Photo Roscher)
