At 1:11 AM on January 11th, the WTT Doha Star Challenge continued to progress vigorously. In the day's competition, Xiang Peng and Xu Yingbin teamed up to defeat Tomokazu Harimoto and Koki Niwa with a score of 3-2, successfully winning the men's doubles championship title, and all events on the penultimate day of the competition came to an end. After this battle, the national table tennis team's record was mixed with joy and worry. In the women's doubles arena, the national table tennis team combination of Zhuo Jia He and Zong Ge Man performed unsatisfactorily, and they were swept by the Japanese combination of Shizuka Toda and Sakiyo Yokoi with a score of 0-3, unfortunately missing the women's doubles championship trophy. So far, two crowns have been born in the Doha Challenge, with the national table tennis team and the Japanese table tennis team each winning one championship and one runner-up, both sides are evenly matched in the honor competition. In addition, the top four women's singles have also been decided, with Chinese and Japanese players occupying two seats each. However, the situation in the women's singles arena is really surprising. In the singles matches, there were frequent upsets, and except for Miharu Kuwahara, all the seeded female singles players who skipped the first round returned empty-handed. On the men's singles side, Qiu Dang, the No. 2 seed player, was also unable to escape elimination, having already been knocked out. The following is a more detailed account of the competition and the subsequent match schedule arrangements:
[Women's Doubles Final]
It must be said that the Japanese pair of Shizuka Toda/Sakiyo Yokoi is really very strong. They are also last year's Asian Championship women's doubles champions. In today's early morning women's doubles match, the national table tennis team combination of Zhuo Jia He/Zong Ge Man was suppressed throughout the game, relatively passive, and finally lost 0-3 to Shizuka Toda/Sakiyo Yokoi, with the three-set scores being: [2-11, 10-12, 9-11]. Although the national table tennis team combination gradually entered the state, unfortunately, they failed to seize the opportunity in the second set's key points. If they could have won the second set, perhaps the result of the match would not have been like this.
[Men's Doubles Final]
In a highly anticipated event, the national table tennis team pair of Xiang Peng and Xu Yingbin faced off against the Japanese pair of Tomokazu Harimoto and Koki Niwa in an intense match. This match was a close contest, and after five tough rounds, the national table tennis team pair managed to win with difficulty. At the beginning of the match, the first set presented an extremely tense situation, with both sides quickly entering a tug-of-war mode that was entangled endlessly. Look, the score was like riding a roller coaster, alternating upwards, and soon reached a critical point of 13-13. At this critical moment, the national table tennis team pair demonstrated extraordinary strength and a calm mentality, firmly grasping the opportunity, and won the first set with a score of 15-13, successfully taking the lead and getting off to a good start in the match. However, the situation in the second set took an unexpected turn, which caught people off guard. For some unknown reason, the state of the national table tennis team pair seemed to have fluctuated slightly, and they were quickly suppressed by their opponents, losing the total score with a score of 4-11. This loss undoubtedly brought considerable pressure to the national table tennis team pair. Fortunately, in the third set, Xiang Peng and Xu Yingbin adjusted their state in time, quickly launched an attack, and the two cooperated tacitly, playing back and forth on the court, making a lot of noise, and finally won with a score of 11-8, once again taking the lead in the score and successfully stabilizing the situation, rekindling the audience's expectations for their victory. But this fruit of victory had not yet been fully grasped, and the fourth round of the match fell into a white-hot stage again. Backed against the wall, Tomokazu Harimoto and Koki Niwa showed extremely tenacious fighting spirit, and both sides engaged in fierce fighting again, with the score climbing all the way, reaching an unconventional 13-11 again. Unfortunately, the balance of victory in this round tilted towards the Japanese pair, and the total score was leveled again, pushing the suspense of the match to a climax once more. However, the national table tennis team pair did not lose heart because of this. In the decisive round, they made a bold push, turning all the pressure into forward momentum. The two were fully focused on the court, striving for every ball with all their might, and eventually locked in the victory with a score of 11-6, successfully winning this tough match and bringing honor to the national table tennis team.
[Men's and Women's Singles Quarterfinals]
In this event, the performance of the national table tennis men's singles was indeed unsatisfactory, and it is regrettable that no player was able to successfully advance to the semifinals, all unfortunately eliminated. It is worth mentioning that Qiu Dang, who previously eliminated many young national table tennis players, also failed to continue his "dark horse" legend in the intense competition held in the early hours of this morning. Facing singles veteran Groth, Qiu Dang fought hard but ultimately lost 2-3, thus failing to reach the semifinals. This result undoubtedly caused a minor upset, leaving many fans stunned.
During the fierce competition process, there were unexpected situations. Wong Chun Ting originally held as many as 2 match points and was in a very advantageous position, but the game changed dramatically, and he was eventually reversed by the main player of the Japanese table tennis team, Daito, and was unfortunately eliminated, which is really regrettable. At the same time, in another match, Nigerian ace Aruna performed outstandingly, easily defeating the dark horse player Park Kang-hyun who emerged from the qualifying rounds with a score of 3-1, demonstrating his strong strength. In addition, the young talent of the Japanese table tennis world, Tomokazu Harimoto, also performed brilliantly, sweeping his teammate Koki Niwa with a 3-0 absolute advantage in the match against him, showing his strong competitiveness on the court.
On the women's singles court, there were frequent upsets. World No. 9 Shin Yu-bin was surprisingly eliminated by Miharu Kuwahara with a 3-0 absolute advantage, which was quite surprising. And Qian Tianyi also failed to escape the fate of an upset, Chen Yi performed well on the court, defeating her with a score of 3-0. Zhuo Jia He was originally in a good position, having taken a 2-0 lead in the match, but Nagasaki Miu launched a strong counterattack later, eventually achieving a reversal and letting Zhuo Jia He suffer a defeat on the court. In addition, the match between Kuai Man and her teammate Shi Xunyao was also very fierce, and Kuai Man went through difficulties and finally narrowly defeated Shi Xunyao with a score of 3-2.
For the detailed score situation, please refer to the figure shown below.
[Schedule and Matchups for January 11th]
Once again facing off against African champion Aruna, Tomokazu Harimoto may stumble on the road to the semifinals this time. At the same time, the women's singles arena will also feature two intense showdowns between China and Japan. In such a situation, the Japanese table tennis team even has the possibility of sweeping the men's and women's singles champions and runners-up. Below are the specific schedule arrangements:
