With the Tokyo Olympics approaching, the Table Tennis Association, which has already won the Olympic Games, is actively preparing for the competition, but most of the players are still working hard to qualify for the Olympics. The mixed doubles qualifying tournament for the Paris Olympics has officially begun. Hong Kong's ace pair Wong Chun-ting and Du Hoi-king will play, and the veteran Ni Xialian will also play with her partner.
This year's mixed doubles qualifying tournament will produce four quota places for the Paris Olympics. In order not to clash with the upcoming World Cup, all 26-team matches will be played in 2 days. In terms of national table tennis, Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin naturally do not have to participate, they have already qualified for the Olympics, and the Japanese team Tomokazu Zhang and Hina Hayada can also qualify with the world ranking. Therefore, combinations with lower points in this cycle need to participate to get places.
According to the rules of the Olympic Qualification Tournament, the winners of KO1 and KO2 will qualify directly for the mixed doubles on the first day, and the remaining 24 teams will continue to compete on the second day, with the two second-placed teams on the first day as the top and second seeds on the second day, and the two winning teams on the second day qualifying for the Olympics. So qualification for the Olympics is very tight.
At present, the quarter-finals of the two groups have ended. Wong/Du Hoi Kim narrowly beat Kurzicki/Viergos 4-3 with the score of Wong Chun Ting/Du Hoi Kim 10-12, 6-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5. Although we didn't see the process of the game, but judging from the score, Huang Zhenting/Du Kaiqin withstood the pressure and achieved a turnaround against the wind after falling behind 0-2, and it was very hard to reach the top 4 in 7 rounds, but to qualify for the Olympics, they had to win 2 more games to win the first place.
The other three results of KO2 were: Magnusson/C-Carlberg 4-0 Gunduz/Altinkaya;
Ionescu/Szokos 4-2 Boggs/Vega;
Miladnovic/Ni Xialian 4-3 Zhong Ziyi/Keren
The 60-year-old Ni Xialian is really capable of playing, not long ago won the women's singles championship in the WTT feeder Beirut station, and continued to play mixed doubles in order to qualify for the Olympics, and her partner fought 7 games with her opponent, it is not difficult to find that from 2-3 to 4-3, it is another big reversal. With such physical strength and perseverance at this age, it is really admirable!
KO1, Exage/Madarac 4-3 Valenta/Blaskova;
Lee Jung-sik/Kim Jin-young 4-1 Nanasekaran/Batra, 11-7, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6;
Robles/Xiao Yaoqian 4-1 Sang Guan Xin/Paranan;
Gados/Polkanova 4-0 Levaacz/Luprescu.
Robles/Xiao Yaoqian are old partners, and as the top seeds in this group, it is not unusual to play 4-1. Their next match will be against Gados and Polkanova.
We are focusing on the Lee Jung-sik/Kim Jin-young pair. This is a combination from North Korea and has always been known as the Mystic Master. All kinds of WTT Grand Slams, we don't see them participating, but the Olympics, or the tournaments held in China, they will come. The strength of North Korean table tennis has always been very strong, and Kim Qinying was able to defeat Kuaiman, who was a national table tennis player.
In the 1/8 finals, the North Korean combination defeated the Slovak star Pisteje and Balazova 4-1, with a score of 11-5, 10-12, 12-10, 11-3, 11-5, and the Slovak combination did not exceed 5 points in 3 games. In the quarter-finals, the North Koreans faced India's aces of Bhatra and Nanasekara, and Lee Jung-sik/Kim Jin-young played another 4-1, 11-7, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6 in five games. The opponent did not play many games with them, and they were not used to fighting coldly, from serving to slashing up and down, and pulling left and right attacking. So this game may also be very helpful for the Chinese team.