The final of the 2014 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Tokyo took place today on the 5th May and was occupied by the two top seeds China and Germany, and was to be a repeat of the previous two World Team Championship finals, both of which China had won. Results and video below.
The Chinese National Team
Match 1: Ma Long vs Timo Boll
The first battle to take place was between Timo Boll and Ma Long, Timo Boll looked to be playing strong in the first set taking the lead however Ma Long fought back making the most of every opportunity given to him, the second set was also closely fought with Germany taking a time out but Ma Long used this to his advantage and with the wise words of China’s coach Liu Guoliang, he held his nerve yet again and took the second set. It was Timo who again took the lead in the third set attacking strong but the German was no match for Ma Long today who clinched the third and final set 11-9.
Match 2: Zhang Jike vs Dimitrij Ovtcharov
With China taking a 1-0 lead against Germany, the next clash to take place was to be between Germany’s Dimitrij Ovcharov and China’s Zhang Jike. Ovcharov knew he needed to give his best performance in order to beat the Olympic champion and keep Germany’s hope of winning the title alive, and so he started off the match strong taking the first six points before Zhang Jike managed to take control and level forcing an early time out from Rosskopf. This proved crucial as Ovcharov held his nerve and took the first set at a close 13-11, the second set was much closer standing at 7-6 to Ovcharov when China took their time-out, from there every point was a battle both players knowing the importance of this second set but with two game points for Ovcharov it was he who managed to take a 2-0 lead. Tensions were high for the third set and with the German knowing that there was no room for error he took a strong 6-2 lead and with Zhang Jike looking passive and out of form a comeback looked highly unlikely, an upset looked to be on the cards for China as the German took a 9-3 lead before clinching a well-earned victory. This was to be Zhang Jike’s first loss after an impressive 26 match record in his WTTC appearances in both team and individual events.
Match 3: Xu Xin vs Patrick Franziska
Now it was Germany’s young third played Patrick Franziska’s turn to step up to the table where he would player current world number one Xu Xin, having put in an incredible performance the evening before beating Kenta Matsudaira could the German clinch victory again? Although the rallies were spectacular to watch Xu Xin proved just why he is the world number one taking the first set 11-5, Xu Xin continued to prevent Patrick from getting into the match which forced Rosskopf to take a time out to discuss a change in tactics.
Xu Xin had a comfortable 5-0 lead in the second set and looked relentless as he furthered his lead to 8-1 before taking the second game 11-2. This match looked to be too much to ask for the German however he continued to fight for every point and this set was much closer than the last although Xu Xin was still in the lead, Liu Guoliang called for a time out as his player was leading 9-6, this looked to be the right move as Xu Xin managed to claim the straight three sets win giving China a 2-1 lead in the final.
Match 4: Ma Long vs Dimitrij Ovtcharov
China knew that they were close to victory as they needed just one more point in order to claim Gold but a fired up and on form Ovcharov was not going to go down without a fight as he was next up to face Ma Long. The first set was headed by Ma Long who confidently took a 9-0 lead, the German was looking like he had no chance however yet again he managed to prove us wrong as he fought hard levelling the set at an impressive 9-9 but it was Ma Long who managed to take the first set 12-10 giving China an early lead. Ma Longs forehand was proving too strong for his opponent and at 5-5 Ovcharov looked to be giving his all in order to take the lead but Ma Long continued on strong and took the second set. Germany’s hopes were quickly running out as Ovcharov was down 0-5 in the third set and with Ma Longs confidence still growing he was able to attack his way to an 11-2 win and with a 3-0 victory he secured the Gold for China. Although China were pushed along the way to their 3-1 triumph, they were yet again able to overcome Germany to and repeat history.
Congratulations to China winning this years World Team Championships! For all the latest news, results and videos from the World Team Championships click here. To catch up on all the latest highlighted matches from the Championships visit our Media Library.
Like and tweet our articles to the World. Lets spread the word of Table Tennis.
Written by: Emily Standing
Source: mhtabletennis.com
TableTennisDaily
The Chinese National Team
Match 1: Ma Long vs Timo Boll
The first battle to take place was between Timo Boll and Ma Long, Timo Boll looked to be playing strong in the first set taking the lead however Ma Long fought back making the most of every opportunity given to him, the second set was also closely fought with Germany taking a time out but Ma Long used this to his advantage and with the wise words of China’s coach Liu Guoliang, he held his nerve yet again and took the second set. It was Timo who again took the lead in the third set attacking strong but the German was no match for Ma Long today who clinched the third and final set 11-9.
Match 2: Zhang Jike vs Dimitrij Ovtcharov
With China taking a 1-0 lead against Germany, the next clash to take place was to be between Germany’s Dimitrij Ovcharov and China’s Zhang Jike. Ovcharov knew he needed to give his best performance in order to beat the Olympic champion and keep Germany’s hope of winning the title alive, and so he started off the match strong taking the first six points before Zhang Jike managed to take control and level forcing an early time out from Rosskopf. This proved crucial as Ovcharov held his nerve and took the first set at a close 13-11, the second set was much closer standing at 7-6 to Ovcharov when China took their time-out, from there every point was a battle both players knowing the importance of this second set but with two game points for Ovcharov it was he who managed to take a 2-0 lead. Tensions were high for the third set and with the German knowing that there was no room for error he took a strong 6-2 lead and with Zhang Jike looking passive and out of form a comeback looked highly unlikely, an upset looked to be on the cards for China as the German took a 9-3 lead before clinching a well-earned victory. This was to be Zhang Jike’s first loss after an impressive 26 match record in his WTTC appearances in both team and individual events.
Match 3: Xu Xin vs Patrick Franziska
Now it was Germany’s young third played Patrick Franziska’s turn to step up to the table where he would player current world number one Xu Xin, having put in an incredible performance the evening before beating Kenta Matsudaira could the German clinch victory again? Although the rallies were spectacular to watch Xu Xin proved just why he is the world number one taking the first set 11-5, Xu Xin continued to prevent Patrick from getting into the match which forced Rosskopf to take a time out to discuss a change in tactics.
Xu Xin had a comfortable 5-0 lead in the second set and looked relentless as he furthered his lead to 8-1 before taking the second game 11-2. This match looked to be too much to ask for the German however he continued to fight for every point and this set was much closer than the last although Xu Xin was still in the lead, Liu Guoliang called for a time out as his player was leading 9-6, this looked to be the right move as Xu Xin managed to claim the straight three sets win giving China a 2-1 lead in the final.
Match 4: Ma Long vs Dimitrij Ovtcharov
China knew that they were close to victory as they needed just one more point in order to claim Gold but a fired up and on form Ovcharov was not going to go down without a fight as he was next up to face Ma Long. The first set was headed by Ma Long who confidently took a 9-0 lead, the German was looking like he had no chance however yet again he managed to prove us wrong as he fought hard levelling the set at an impressive 9-9 but it was Ma Long who managed to take the first set 12-10 giving China an early lead. Ma Longs forehand was proving too strong for his opponent and at 5-5 Ovcharov looked to be giving his all in order to take the lead but Ma Long continued on strong and took the second set. Germany’s hopes were quickly running out as Ovcharov was down 0-5 in the third set and with Ma Longs confidence still growing he was able to attack his way to an 11-2 win and with a 3-0 victory he secured the Gold for China. Although China were pushed along the way to their 3-1 triumph, they were yet again able to overcome Germany to and repeat history.
Congratulations to China winning this years World Team Championships! For all the latest news, results and videos from the World Team Championships click here. To catch up on all the latest highlighted matches from the Championships visit our Media Library.
Like and tweet our articles to the World. Lets spread the word of Table Tennis.
Written by: Emily Standing
Source: mhtabletennis.com
TableTennisDaily
