China’s men’s table tennis dreams dashed as last 2 singles players exit WTT US Smash
Defending champion Wang Chuqin lost to Denmark’s Anders Lind, while Lin Shidong was dumped out by France’s Alexis Lebrun
China’s table tennis players suffered more heartache at the World Table Tennis (WTT) US Smash after the last two remaining men’s singles players were knocked out in the round of 16.
Defending champion Wang Chuqin lost to Denmark’s Anders Lind, while Lin Shidong was dumped out by France’s Alexis Lebrun on Friday.
After the team’s younger players crashed out in the first two rounds, the Chinese men’s singles campaign suffered a complete wipeout, leaving the country with no representatives in the quarter-finals.
Before Wang’s 3-1 loss to Lind, he teamed up with compatriot Sun Yingsha to sweep aside the Brazilian duo of Hugo Calderano and Bruna Takahashi 3-0 to advance to the mixed doubles final, returning to the singles court a few hours later.
Facing Lind, a familiar opponent who beat him at the 2024 WTT China Smash, Wang was locked in a tight contest from the start but failed to capitalise on crucial points, dropping the opening game 11-13.
Wang was completely overwhelmed in the second game, losing 2-11, before clawing one back 11-8 in the third. He lost the fourth game 7-11.