In the early morning of March 24, Beijing time, the table tennis WTT Doha regular season men's singles semifinals came to an end, the national table tennis dark horse youngster Yuan Licen fought 7 rounds, and finally defeated India's Achanta 4-3 to advance, of which the decider only won 2 points, it is not easy! The German-Chinese direct shooter Qiu Dang defeated French rising star Alex, who won two consecutive national table tennis players, 4-2 to advance.
The state of Qiu Dang in this competition is also very good, winning the French team "one brother" Simon, the world's No. 4 Brazilian player Hugo, plus his father is the ace coach of the Japanese team (Zhang Benzhihe, Mizutani Hayabusa, Niwa Takashi, Ishikawa Yoshinori's mentor), so usually there are many high people to point out, its technical and tactical level is indeed not to be underestimated, the final Yuan Lichen is facing a severe challenge!
The core main players of China, Japan and South Korea men's table tennis in the Doha regular season did not participate, but the Swedish main players Falke, Carlsson and others have registered, and Francesca and others of the German team have also played, so the overall level is still OK, but the athletes who finally reached the final four are still somewhat unexpected, namely:
Yuan Lichen (21 years old), ranked 264th in the world, Ah Changta (39 years old), ranked 41st in the world, Qiu Dang (25 years old) ranked 32nd in the world, and Alex (18 years old) ranked 354th in the world.
In the following semi-final battle, Yuan Lichen and Achanta took the lead - the latter was once the "brother" of the Indian team, but the threat to the national table tennis was not as good as the junior Ghanaese Karan, but he was in very good shape this time, eliminating the South Korean star Lin Jong-hoon (who only recently swept 3-0 Lin Gaoyuan), and then created great difficulties for Yuan Lichen.
After the semi-finals began, Yuan Lichen's newborn calves were not afraid of tigers, and they quickly came out on top 11-5. But in the second set, Ah Changta used his rich experience to tangle with Yuan Licen, and the ball was more mature in the key moments, and then won 11-8. In the third set, Yuan Licen counterattacked successfully, winning 11-6, but then being forced into a desperate situation by Ah Changta 11-7, 11-5, and was forced into a desperate situation after falling behind 2-3!
In the face of difficulties, Yuan Licen almost collapsed, and the sixth set with Achanta was won until 12-10, successfully dragging the match into the decider. And in the seventh set, Yuan Licen also decided with the other party between 2 points, and finally locked in the victory 11-9, and the big score was 4-3 to send the veteran away: it was not easy!
The battle between Qiu Dang and Alex was ups and downs, at first he went down 11-6, 11-8, 11-8, and then he was won by the opponent 11-6, 11-1 in two consecutive sets - qiu Dang was blasted by the other side to 11-0 during the match against Hugo, this time 11-1, but he was in danger twice, and finally won the sixth set of the semi-final 11-5 and successfully qualified.
In the next final battle, Yuan Licen may have an advantage in the degree of technical thickness, but if it comes to competition experience and on-the-spot change ability, Qiu Dang may be more than enough, after all, he has already participated in the World Table Tennis Championships and other world championships, and Yuan Licen has just emerged not long ago, and there are still many places that need to be strengthened.
So who will win the "straight battle" in the men's singles final? What are your predictions for this? Feel free to leave a comment and write your own opinion!