On January 15, 2025, according to Beijing time, the first day of the WTT regular challenge match in Masqat has come to an end. In this event, two players from the national table tennis team were unfortunately eliminated in the first round of singles. Among them, Xu Yingbin lost 0-3 to the powerful Ochaglov on the court; while Wang Xiaotong also lost 1-3 to Tan Yuxuan in that derby battle. In addition, there is a surprising situation. The world champion from Japan, Yoshimura Makihara, actually encountered the embarrassing situation of being eliminated in the first round in this competition. Moreover, Miharu Kihara, who won the women's singles runner-up at the Doha station before, was also unable to go further on the court and was successfully eliminated by the national table tennis player.
In the first round of the men's singles main event, Xu Yingbin's performance was really a pity. During the game, he once took the lead with a score of 8-5 in the second set, but the situation turned sharply, and he was successfully reversed by his opponent. Not only that, when he took the lead again with a score of 8-4 in the third set, he still failed to maintain the advantage and was overturned by the opponent again. Finally, Xu Yingbin lost 0-3 to Ochaglov and missed the men's singles top 16. It must be said that compared with those top players in the world, Xu Yingbin does have deficiencies in terms of game experience, and his performance on the court lacks sufficient stability. However, other national table tennis players have performed quite brilliantly. Xiang Peng showed strong strength in the game, sweeping Jules Rolland with an absolute advantage of 3-0; Chen Yuanyu also performed well, after fierce competition, eliminating Tiago Apollonia with a score of 3-1; Huang Youzheng also did not show weakness, relying on his own strength to eliminate Manafu Vikash Takka with a score of 3-1. With the outstanding performance of Xiang Peng, Chen Yuanyu and Huang Youzheng, a total of 3 people from the national table tennis team successfully advanced to the men's singles top 16.
In addition, there were upsets in the first round of the men's singles event. The No. 3 seed Quadri Aruna actually lost 0-3 to Huang Yancheng; and world champion Yoshimura Makihara also performed poorly, losing 0-3 to Indian player Manash Shah. The top seed in this event is Zhang Ben Zhihe. He knows that he successfully won the championship in the Doha Star Challenge before, so he is still one of the favorites to win the championship in this event. His debut was strong, sweeping Navis Shams 3-0. So far, the top 16 men's singles players have been determined, and the next 1/8 final match-ups are as follows:
In the first round of the women's singles event, the national table tennis team sent 5 players to compete. Among them, only Wang Xiaotong suffered a loss in the derby battle. She competed with Tan Yuxuan and finally lost 1-3 to the opponent. However, the performance of other national table tennis players was quite outstanding. Such as Shi Xunyao, she showed strong strength on the court, sweeping Miharu Kihara with an absolute advantage of 3-0; Kuai Man also played steadily, eliminating Xiao Yaoqi with a score of 3-1; Chen Yi also did not show weakness, defeating Zeng Jian with a score of 3-1. Overall, there were not too many ups and downs in the first round of the women's singles event, which was relatively stable. And the top two seeded players in the tournament, Daotsubasa and Hirano Miyu, also advanced smoothly without any obstacles. So far, the top 16 women's singles players have all been produced, and the next 1/8 final match-ups have also been announced:
Daotsubasa will face off against Aishika Mukherjee, Sakura Yokozawa will compete with Sreeja Akula, Prithika Pavade's opponent is Chen Yi, Kuai Man will compete with Xu Xiaoyuan, Shi Xunyao will compete with Ye Yitan, Du Kaiqin will face off against Gao Qiao Brunna, Manika Batra's opponent is Tan Yuxuan, Liu Yangzi will face off against Hirano Miyu.
After fierce competition, the top eight lists of the three doubles events have been settled. Among them, the national table tennis team performed well in each event, with one pair successfully advancing to the top eight in the men's doubles event; while in the women's doubles event, two pairs advanced to the top eight with outstanding performance; in addition, in the mixed doubles event, one pair also stood out and successfully advanced to the top eight. Next, the highly anticipated quarter-final matchups have been revealed, and the specific matchups are as follows:
The men's doubles quarter-finals matchups have been announced: One side is the partnership of Zhang Ben Zhihe and Matsushima Kakeru, who will face the combination of Jahn and Dani; another is He Junjie partnering with Yao Juntao, whose opponents are Lin Zhao Heng and Guan Wen Hao; Huang Yancheng and Guo Guanhong will compete with Chen Yuanyu and Huang Youzheng; finally, Zhang Youan and Hong Jingkai will face the challenge of Takka and Manash Shah.
The women's doubles quarter-finals matchups are as follows: Daotsubasa and Sakura Yokozawa will face off against Kuai Man and Chen Yi; Lurescu partners Surjan, their opponents are Li Kaixin and Jiang Zhilin; Tan Yuxuan and Zong Ge Man will face off against Charlotte Lutz and Houchat; Kim Minhyung partners Liu Yangzi, their opponents are Zhu Chengzhu and Wu Yonglin.
In the mixed doubles quarter-finals, there will be some exciting matches. One is the combination of Wong Chun Ting and Du Kaiqin, who will face off against the opponents formed by Borrel and Houchat; the other is Huang Youzheng partnering with Shi Xunyao, who will compete with the combination of Yao Juntao and Wu Yonglin; Simon Gauzy partners with Pavaud, their opponents are Manash Shah and Chitale; Istirat and Diaknu form a team, facing the challenge of Robles and Xiao Yaoqi.
In the upcoming competition days, men's singles 1/8 finals, women's singles 1/8 finals, men's doubles quarter-finals, women's doubles quarter-finals, and mixed doubles quarter-finals and semi-finals and other events will be held one after another. Here, I hope that our young national table tennis players can muster up their courage and go all out. Show your skills on the court, bring out your best state, and strive to win more victories!