LIEBHERR World Championships

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The dust has settled, the LIEBHERR World Championships have concluded, winners of the respective Men’s and Women’s Singles events being China’s Zhang Jike and Li Xiaoxia.

Both are players who dazzled with their excellence and both are players whose efforts will live long in the memory; both are inscribing their names indelibly in the history books of sport.

Zhang Jike yet again he proved himself the man who for the big occasion; his well-honed legs enabling him to execute a tirade of top spin strokes.

New Confidence
Meanwhile, Li Xiaoxia dispelled the theory that she is the player for whom the big occasion is too great. She had been dubbed Miss No.2 after losing in the World Championships Women’s Singles finals in 2007 in Zagreb and 2011 in Rotterdam

After winning the gold medal in the Women’s Singles event at the London 2012 Olympic Games, there is a new found confidence in the soul of Li Xiaoxia. After Paris she is Miss No.1.

A Decade Ago
In Paris others dazzled, others produced moments of outstanding play but at the end of the day, it is the names of Zhang Jike and Li Xiaoxia who stand out the most, the World champions.

Both are players we first saw a decade ago, the last time the tournament was held in Paris but they were not in Paris; as we congratulated Austria’s Werner Schlager and China’s Wang Nan on their efforts in the Palais Omnisport de Paris in May 2003, so we first saw the names of Zhang Jike and Li Xiaoxia appear on the international stage.

The Span of the ITTF Global Junior Programme
Furthermore, ten years ago they were also involved in firsts.

In 2003, Zhang Jike won the Boys’ Singles title at the first ever ITTF Cadet Challenge in the Hungarian city of Tiszaujvaros; Li Xiaoxia reached the semi-finals of the Girls’ Singles event at the first ever World Junior Championships in the Chilean capital city of Santiago.

Simply, their careers are the life of the ITTF Global Junior Programme.

Surely the End
There are several years left in the legs of Zhang Jike and Li Xiaoxia who will no doubt defend their World titles in 2015 and their Olympic titles in 2016 but of those players who were present alongside Zhang Jike in the Chinese Men’s Team last week in Paris and were present a decade ago in Paris, it is surely the end.

Once again Wang Hao had to give way to Zhang Jike.

Again Wang Hao Leaves with Silver
In 2010 in the final of the Liebherr Men’s World Cup in Magdeburg, Wang Hao beat Zhang Jike; since that date it has always been Zhang Jike who has prevailed when the two have met on the international stage.

Zhang Jike has now beaten Wang Hao in four consecutive major finals; at the GAC Group World Championships in Rotterdam in 2011, later in the year at the Liebherr Men’s World Cup in Paris, in 2012 at the Olympic Games and now in Paris.

Step Into Shoes
Although only 29 years old and listed at no.4 on the Men’s World Rankings; it is the end of the international road for Wang Hao. Ma Long and Xu Xin are now established, Yan An and Fan Zhendong in particular are ready to step into illustrious shoes.

 
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