November 2014 World Rankings

Huge jump by Quadri Aruna!



Quadri Aruna in action at the 2014 Men's World Cup - Photo by: ITTF



November was all about the Men's and Women's World Cups! This is where Quadri Aruna surprised the crowd by reaching the quarter finals resulting in a huge jump into the top 30 of the world. Furthermore the Asian Games came to an end last month causing some interesting changes for the Asian players.





Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen - 2014 Asian Games Champions - Photos by: ITTF


The Asian Games were held in Incheon, Korea Republic. The event started with a team event followed by doubles and singles events.

Catching up at the team semi finals it was the men's team of China posting a straight 3-0 victory over Japan. At the same time Korea Rep. defeated Chinese Taipei 3-1 thanks to two victories by Joo Se Hyuk. Joo kept his good form in the final against China but it just wasn't enough; Ma Long proved stronger at the deciding moments (11-9, 11-9, 10-12, 17-15). After this Xu Xin and Zhang Jike easily finished the job - Gold for China.

The Women's team of China met Japan in the final. China had easily swept Korea DPR in the semi finals while Japan had a tight 3-2 victory over Singapore. Japan started the Gold medal match well with a victory of Ai Fukuhara over Ding Ning. It was however not enough as Liu Shiwen and Zhu Yuling were in great shape, sealing another gold medal for China.

Similar to the Olympics and the World Cups each country may be represented by only 2 players in the singles event. Interesting both Japanese women were eliminated early. As expected Zhu Yuling and Liu Shiwen reached the final by sweeping their opponents in the semi finals, Feng Tianwei and Yang Haeun. The final wasn't a close call either; Liu Shiwen won by 4-0.

Xu Xin and Fan Zhendong didn't take any risks in their matches. Xu Xin, known to easily deal with defenders sent Joo Se Hyuk home within 26 minutes. Fan Zhendong posted a 4-0 victory as well against Chuang Chih-Yuan.





Ding Ning and Zhang Jike- 2014 World Cup Winners - Photos by: ITTF


The Men's and Women's World Cup were held in Düsseldorf, Germany and Linz, Austria.

Quadri Aruna was the most noticable name in the quarter finals. In order to get there he played three upsets in a row against Kenta Matsudaira, Alexander Shibaev and Tang Peng. Eventually world champion Zhang Jike, on his road to a double Grand Slam, was a step too far. Timo Boll showed that he still has the power to be a great threat towards the Chinese as he took Zhang Jike to a deciding 7th set in the semi final - a thriller for the home crowd. Ma Long, having beaten Jun Mizutani 4-0 on his path to the final was expected to be another big hurdle - and it turned out that way. Zhang Jike was down 2-3 but regained his momentum: Another 4-3 victory for the championship.

Many of the top seeded women were already eliminated in the round of 16. Melek Hu had no problems at all with Elizabeta Samara. Jiang Huajun easily handled with defender Seo Hyowon while teammate Lee Ho Ching stood no chance against Georgina Pota. Pota, playing her first World Cup ever continued with a 4-3 win against Huajun. She was then finally stopped by Li Xiaoxia. The final was another all-Chinese game as Ding Ning played 4-2 against Kasumi Ishikawa. This time the final was not as exciting; a straight victory for Ding Ning.




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