On May 26, the 2023 Durban World Table Tennis Championships entered a white-hot stage, and today will produce the men's and women's singles final four, men's and women's doubles final lineup and mixed doubles champions. The World Table Tennis Championships does not have three or four finals, reaching the final four means that you can get medals, at present, the national table tennis has won 5 medals, South Korea has won 3 medals, Japan has won 2 medals, Germany and Hong Kong each won 1.
The mixed doubles event is the fastest and will produce a champion today. In the semifinals played last night and this morning, Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha defeated Hong Kong's Huang Zhenting/To Kaixuan 3-2, and the Japanese pair Tomokazu Chang / Hina Hayata defeated Lin Shidong/Kuman 3-1. The mixed doubles final is once again staged in the China-Japan showdown, which is also a repeat of the mixed doubles final of the World Table Tennis Championships in Houston two years ago, and the last time Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha defeated their opponents 3-0 and successfully reached the top. This time, looking ahead to the final, Chang said: "Two years ago we won the silver medal, this time we just want the gold medal. Wang Chuqin said that he should seize the time to prepare for the final and strive to successfully defend the title.
The men's and women's doubles will compete for the semifinals today. The two South Korean men's doubles pairs reached the semifinals, and in the semifinals, Lee Sang-so/Cho Dae-sung will face Fan Zhendong/Wang Chuqin, and Zhang Yuzhen/Lim Jong-hoon will face Germany's Ochalov/Franceska. The South Korean team can perform beyond the level as soon as it arrives at the competition, and this World Table Tennis Championships is no exception, and the men's doubles semifinalists occupy two places, which also reflects their progress over the years, and Lee Sang-so also won his fourth doubles medal.
And the German star and world champion Ochalov, who is about to turn 35, participated in eight World Table Tennis Championships and finally won his first World Table Tennis Championships single medal, and his combination with Francesca is still a temporary partner. Due to Pol's retirement due to injury, Ochalov played in the men's doubles with Franceska, and he lost 3-4 to Croatia's Puka in the singles tournament and missed the round of 16. Unexpectedly, in the doubles competition, Ochalov fulfilled his wish, he and Francesca defeated the English pair Jinkhor / Pichefot 3-1, reached the semifinals, and finally won a single World Table Tennis Championships medal.
In the women's doubles semifinals, Chen Meng/Wang Yidi faced the Japanese pair Miyu Nagasaki/Miyu Kihara, and defending champions Sun Yingsha/Wang Manyu faced the South Korean pair Tian Zhixi/Shin Yubin. In the previous two World Table Tennis Championships, the Japanese women's doubles were Mimato Ito/Hina Hayata to enter the final, this time they lost to Chen Meng/Wang Yidi of National Table Tennis in the 1/4 final, and the younger Miyu Nagasaki / Miyu Kihara stood up, they defeated the Czech pair Matrova / Balazova 3-2 to advance to the final four, helping the Japanese team continue to have women's doubles medals. After reaching the final four, Miyu Nagasaki and Miyu Kihara also danced super cute, but it may be difficult for them to go further.
The Korean women's doubles also finished on the podium again after the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships in Rotterdam, and twelve years ago, the Kim Jun-e/Park Mi-young pair won the bronze medal in the women's doubles. Tian Zhixi/Shin Yubin defeated the cross-association pair Szokos/Polkanova 3-0 in the quarterfinal. After the game, Tian Zhixi also bluntly said that the focus of this World Table Tennis Championships is on women's doubles, and the South Korean women's team has not won a medal for many years, and he is waiting for Shin Yubin to grow up. Now, Shin Yubin, a talented girl, has gradually matured, Tian Zhixi waited for his partner when he grew up, and the two also joined hands on the podium.
Today, there will also be a competition for the men's and women's singles 1/4 finals, and the national table tennis will once again usher in a civil war. In the men's singles, Ma Long and Lin Gaoyuan met, Fan Zhendong played Egypt's Assar, Liang Jingkun played Japan's Zhang Benzhihe, and Wang Chuqin played Anders Lind. In the women's singles, defending champion Wang Manyu faced Chen Xingtong, Sun Yingsha against German chipper Han Ying, Chen Meng against Misei Ito and Wang Yidi against Hina Hayada.