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Turkey’s Hu Melek, Japan’s Sayaka Hirano and Hong Kong’s Jiang Huajun complete the line-up for the forthcoming Women’s World Cup to be staged in the Austrian city of Linz from Friday 17th to Sunday 19th October.
They replace DPR Korea’s Ri Myong Sun, Korea’s Seok Hajung and Ukraine’s Margaryta Pesotska who appeared on the original invitation list.
Notably all three have competed previously in the prestigious tournament.
Hu Melek has hitherto been on duty just once. She competed one year ago in Kobe where in the group stage she beat Mexico’s Yadira Silva but lost to Singapore’s Yu Mengyu.
Meanwhile, Sayaka Hirano has been present on four previous occasions but like Hu Melek has never advanced to the final stage; the closest being on debut in Guangzhou in 2009.
She beat Australia’s Miao Miao but suffered defeat against the eventual winner, China’s Liu Shiwen, before in the crucial contest to determine second place in the group, losing by the very narrowest of margins in the seventh game to Korea’s Park Miyoung.
Alas one year later in Kuala Lumpur, after losing to China’s Guo Yue; Sayaka Hirano had to withdraw through injury; whilst in Singapore in 2011, it was third place the group. She beat the Dominican Republic’s Wu Xue but suffered defeats against Jiang Huajun and Singapore’s Feng Tianwei.
Similarly, one year on Kobe she fell just one step short of a place in the main draw. In the initial group stage she beat Australia’s Miao Miao and Thailand’s Nanthana Komwong, before in the next set of group matches, losing to China’s Wu Yang anf Jiang Huajun.
Creditable performances, no earth shattering wins but equally no desperate defeats but neither can compete with the record of Jiang Huajun.
Linz will be her eighth consecutive appearance in the tournament; her debut being in Chengdu in 2007 when she reached the quarter-final stage as she did in Kuala Lumpur the following year and in Singapore in 2011.
On all three occasions she finished in second place in her group; in 2007 behind China’s Guo Yue but ahead of Wang Chen of the United States and the Dominican Republic’s Wu Xue; before, in the round of the last eight, suffering defeat against China’s Wang Nan, the eventual winner.
One year later in 2008, again she was beaten by Guo Yue, again she accounted for Wu Xue and also she defeated Congo Brazzaville’s Yang Fen in the group phase, before as in 2007, losing to the eventual champion. She was beaten by China’s Li Xiaoxia.
Likewise in 2011 in Singapore, it was second place in the group; on this occasion, she experienced defeat at the hands of the host association’s Feng Tianwei but accounted for Sayaka Hirano and as in Chengdu and Kuala Lumpur, she defeated Wu Xue.
Three quarter-final appearances but her best performances came in 2010 in Kuala Lumpur and more recently in 2013 in Kobe.
In 2010, she reached the final, losing to China’s Guo Yan; second place in her group had been her lot. She was beaten by Singapore’s Wang Yuegu but accounted for Yang Fen and Germany’s Wu Jiaduo. A quarter-final place reserved, she accounted for Korea’s Kim Kyungah and Guo Yue to reach the final; a most notable achievement.
Jiang Huajun is one of only four players not representing the People’s Republic of China to reach the final since the tournament was first held in 1996 in Hong Kong; the others are DPR Korea’s Kim Hyon Hui in 2001, Hong Kong colleague Tie Yana in 2008 and Romania’s Elizabeta Samara in 2012.
A place in the final in 2010; one year ago the end result was a semi-final berth and an ultimate fourth place.
In the group stage she beat Sayaka Hirano but lost to Wu Yang, before overcoming Spain’s Shen Yanfei in the quarter-finals. In the penultimate round she was beaten by China’s champion elect, China’s Liu Shiwen before in the play-off contest for third place, suffering defeat at the hands of Feng Tianwei,
Successes for Jiang Huajun but there have been two disappointments when she did not advance beyond the first phase.
In 2009 in Guangzhou she was beaten in the initial stage by Li Xiaoxia, Japan’s Ai Fukuhara and Austria’s Liu Jia; whilst in 2012 in Huangshi she beat Wu Jiaduo but lost to both Feng Tianwei and Elizabeta Samara, third place in the group being her destiny.
Wins and losses, successes and disappointments; it all adds up to experience and in that respect. Jiang Huajun has more than most on duty in Linz.
Only the host nation’s Liu Jia has more, it will be her ninth Women’s World Cup, one more than Jiang Huajun.
The final list of qualifiers is as follows:
World Champion: Li Xiaoxia (China)
Africa Cup Champion: Dina Meshref (Egypt)
Asian Cup Champion: Ding Ning (China)
Asian Cup Qualifiers:
Yu Mengyu (Singapore), Lee Ho Ching (Hong Kong), Feng Tianwei (Singapore), Sayaka Hirano (Japan), Jiang Huajun (Hong Kong)
Europe Cup Champion: Liu Jia (Austria)
Europe Cup Qualifiers: Victoria Pavlovich (Belarus), Li Jiao (Netherlands), Petrissa Solja (Germany), Wu Jiaduo (Germany), Georgina Pota (Hungary), Iveta Vacenovska (Czech Republic), Hu Melek (Turkey)
Latin American Cup Champion: Caroline Kumahara (Brazil)
North American Cup Champion: Zhang Mo (Canada)
Oceania Cup Champion: Jian Fang Lay (Australia)
ITTF Wild Card: Elizabeta Samara (Romania)
Article by: Ian Marshall
Photo By: Rémy Gros
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