Repeat of London Olympic Final as Zhang Jike defeats Wang Hao for Gold!

The 2013 LIEBHERR World Table Tennis Championships Men’s singles final took place today on Monday 20th May 2013; it was a repeat of the London Olympic singles final last summer where we saw China vs. China with Zhang Jike meeting Wang Hao.

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Zhang Jike 2013 WTTC Champion - Photo by: Remy Gros

The semi-finals which took place on the evening of Sunday 19th May 2013 saw two fantastic matches with both Zhang Jike and Wang Hao giving unbelievable performances. Zhang Jike was able to defeat world number one Xu Xin in four straight games (11-8, 11-2, 11-9, 12-10), meanwhile Wang Hao was able to overcome colleague Ma Long in a gruelling six set match (11-9, 11-7, 11-3, 7-11, 12-14, 11-3).

The men’s singles final was not only a repeat of the London 2012 Olympic final but also the GAC Group World Championships which took place in Rotterdam two years ago. Zhang Jike retained his title in a fantastic six game victory against Wang Hao (11-7, 11-8, 6-11, 14-12, 5-11, 11-7).

Zhang Jike looked comfortable to begin with in the match as he gained a two set lead however Wang Hao who was described by the Chinese head coach Liu Guoliang as “the most stable player on the Chinese team” managed to fight back hard to take the third set and take a 7-2 lead in the fourth, with tension in the air both players made use of their time outs in this set but it was the Olympic champion who claimed the set at 14-12.

In the fifth set Wang Hao stayed close to the table taking every opportunity he could to gain the lead from this the gap between the two players was down to one set, the sixth and final set was tight however from being 8-7 up Zhang Jike held his nerve and the advantage to take the match 11-7 to be crowned the 2013 Men’s World Champion.


Congratulations to Zhang Jike becoming this years World Table Tennis Champion!

For all the latest news, results and videos from the World Championships click here. To catch up on all the latest highlighted matches from the World Championships visit our Media Library.

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Source: ITTF
Written by: Emily Standing
TableTennisDaily
 
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