Chinese paddlers Xu/Liu to face giant-killing French in Olympic mixed doubles semis (updated)
TOKYO, July 25– World mixed doubles champions Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen surprisingly found themselves in a semifinal matchup against a French pair here on Sunday at Tokyo 2020 Olympic table tennis competitions after the latter upset the duo from Hong Kong, China. Emmanuel Lebesson and Yuan Jianan, a Chinese native who started to represent France in early 2019, gave…
TOKYO, July 25 (Xinhua) — World mixed doubles champions Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen surprisingly found themselves in a semifinal matchup against a French pair here on Sunday at Tokyo 2020 Olympic table tennis competitions after the latter upset the duo from Hong Kong, China.
Emmanuel Lebesson and Yuan Jianan, a Chinese native who started to represent France in early 2019, gave the Hong Kong pair, Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem, real tough time in the morning session’s quarterfinals, winning 4-3 in one hour and three minutes.
The French pair took the first set with an easy 11-3 over the unprepared Hong Kong duo before being overtaken the lead twice, fighting back and forcing a decider.
Having been denied three match points but managed to lead again on 11-10, Yuan paddled an excellent serve that Wong received it badly to send the ball off the net, wrapping up the match 11-3, 6-11, 7-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 13-11.
Wong challenged the last point but both the umpires ruled it an effective score.
“I just thought it’s dealt we won and went to celebrate after seeing Wong tapped my serve off the net. I didn’t follow what Wong argued,” said the 36-year-old Yuan, who joined a French club in 2003 and was asked to play for the French national team in 2018.
China’s Xu and Liu made an easy through to the semifinals 11-6, 11-1, 11-6, 12-10 over Ovidio Ionescu/Bernadette Szocs of Romania.
They committed four points in a row to start Sunday morning’s session in a lackluster way, but overtook control of the match soon, played a 9-0 run in the first set and never looked back.
The semifinal encounter between Xu/Liu and Lebesson/Yuan will take place at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in the evening session on Sunday.
After rounding up their own game in just 30 minutes, Xu and Liu watched half of the match between the French and Hong Kong pairs.
“Yes, we could watch the video. But it’s more vivid through our own eyes, and watching it lively by the sideline can give us much more detailed information about the opponents, which benefits our preparations for the semifinals,” Xu said.
“You can say it’s another kind of preparation,” Liu echoed.
“We’ll have a rest this afternoon, maybe sleep for a while. And then watch the videos recording their previous performance and have a discussion for the evening session,” Xu added.
“There’s nothing we can do in preparations for the semifinal match against China. They are just too strong for us,” Yuan said.
The other semifinal will pit Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju/Cheng I-Ching and the winners between Germany’s Patrick Franziska/Petrissa Solja and hosts Japan’s Jun Mizutani/Mima Ito. Enditem
