China’s Sun and Wang battle into World Cup semi-finals on day of upsets in Macau
World No 1s Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin fight back to keep China’s hopes of double title triumph alive
Chinese stars Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin battled through intense matches and dramatic comebacks to reach the ITTF World Cup semi-finals, on a Saturday marked by a series of upsets at the Galaxy Arena in Macau.
While Wang Chuqin produced a stirring comeback to keep China’s hopes alive in the men’s singles, edging Slovenia’s Darko Jorgic 4-3, in a seven-game thriller, only Sun and Wang Manyu survived the women’s quarter-finals, with Chen Xintong and Wang Yidi getting knocked out.
Trailing 3-1, table tennis world champion Wang Chuqin regrouped to level at 3-3, before clinching a breathtaking decider 13-11 to reach the last four.
“As an athlete you do not want to give up easily. I am just glad I survived another day,” Wang said. “I started very smoothly, but perhaps I became a bit complacent and lost focus.
“When I called the timeout I was in a very difficult position – I could not play my game and felt helpless. But there are many ways to face a match, and gradually I found some solutions.”
The men’s world No 1 will face Hugo Calderano in Sunday’s semi-finals, after the Brazilian eased past France’s Alexis Lebrun 4-0. Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-ju takes on Japan’s Sora Matsushima in the other match in the final four.