Asia Olympic Qualification tournament begins
With the recent domination of Asian Teams at the 2008 49th
World Teams Table Tennis Championships makes the Asia
Olympic Qualification event perhaps the most important
and most difficult table tennis continental
qualification tournaments for the Olympic Games.
With 7 spots for Men and 7 Spots for Women up for grabs
the event is very important in the lead up to the
Olympic Games.
Leading the way in the Men’s Teams event is current
Singles World Champion Wang Liqin. In the Women it is
former Olympic Champion Wang Nan both from China. Having
missed the automatic World Ranking qualification to
higher ranked team mates they are now in Hong Kong
fighting for one of the spots. Although it should be a
formality for them, they are taking the event very
serious because having the chance to compete in what is
widely known as China’s National Sport at the 2008
Beijing Olympic Game’s is perhaps one of the highest
honors for any Chinese Sports person.
With a strong performance in Guangzhou the Japanese are
also hot favorites to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
Jun Mizutani who also just missed out on a direct spot
will surely be in the top few. The Democratic Republic
of Korea also sends an interesting team, with little
experience it will be interesting to see their results.
With the current regulations of Hong Kong and the
Olympics still unknown for some of the top players from
Hong Kong, locals will be chearing for Chueng Yuk and
arguably Asia’s most attractive female player Zhang Rui.
The tournament is now under way at Shep Kip Mei park
Sports centre in Hong Kong and will run until the
evening of the 9th of March!
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