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A semi-finalist in the Women’s Singles event on the ITTF World Tour earlier this year in Almeria and Incheon, Lee Ho Ching was the star of the show for Hong Kong on the second day of play, Monday 1st July 2013, at the Asian Championships in the Korean city of Busan.
She led Hong Kong to quarter-final success over the host nation in the Women’s Team event, beating Seok Hajung in the second match of the fixture (11-6, 11-5, 11-7) and Yang Haeun in the concluding contest (11-9, 12-10, 11-8).
The one further win for Hong Kong came from Jiang Huajun in the third match of the contest; she accounted for Seok Hajung (11-6, 11-5, 11-7).
Meanwhile, the wins for Korea came from Yang Haeun in the opening match against Jiang Huajun (6-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-9) and in the third duel of the encounter when Seo Hyowon overcame Guan Mengyuan (11-4, 11-3, 11-6).
Success for Hong Kong in the round of the last eight and it was also success for China, Japan and Singapore; none experiencing the tension suffered by Hong Kong.
All three posted three matches to nil successes.
China, fielding the trio of Liu Shiwen, Guo Yue and Ding Ning accounted for the Indian outfit formed by Mouma Das, Shamini Kumaresan and Ankita Das by three matches to nil; whilst the Japanese Olympic Games silver medal winning trio of Ai Fukuhara, Kasumi Ishikawa and Sayaka Hirano performed likewise.
They showed no mercy when facing the Chinese Taipei tram of Chen Szu-Yu, Cheng I-Ching and Lee I-Chen.
Similarly, Singapore imposed their authority on proceedings with the outfit formed by Feng Tianwei, Yu Mengyu and Isabelle Siyun Li overcoming Malaysia’s Ng Sock Khim, Bei Lee Wei and Ting Hie Phin without the loss of an individual match.
At the semi-final stage China meets Japan; Hong Kong confronts Singapore.
In both the Men’s and Women’s Team events, play takes place in a series of stages; the teams finishing in the first six places at the Asian Championships staged in Macau in 2012, enter the quarter-finals directly.
The remaining teams compete for the two outstanding places by first competing in a group phase and then a qualification round.
In the Women’s Team event there were four groups.
First places went to: India (Shamini Kumaresan, Ankita Das, Madhurika Patkar, Neha Aggarwal, Mouma Das), Malaysia (Beh Lee Wei, Ng Sock Khim, Ting Hie Phim), Thailand (Nanthana Komwong, Anisara Muangsuk, Tamolwan Khetkuan, Piyaporm Pannak) and Vietnam (Mai Hoang My Trang, Nguyen Thi Viet Linh, Phan Hoang Tuong Giang, Nguyen Thi Nga, Pham Thi Thien Kim).
Play off matches ensued. India experienced few problems.
They selected the trio of Mouma Das, Shamini Kumaresan and Neha Aggarwal to face the Thailand outfit of Nanthana Komwong, Anisara Muangsuk and Tamolwan Khetkuan; a three-nil win was posted.
A convincing win for India, it was only marginally more difficult for Malaysia in their play-off contest against Vietnam; a three-one success was recorded with Beh Lee Wei proving the backbone of success.
She accounted for Mai Hoang My Trang (11-6, 11-13, 11-9, 11-9) and Nguyen Thi Viet Linh (11-2, 12-10, 10-12, 15-13).
The one further win for Malaysia came from Ng Sock Khim in the first match of the contest against Nguyen Thi Viet Linh (11-2, 12-10, 10-12, 15-13); for Vietnam, Phan Hoang Tuong Giang overcame Ting Hie Phin (12-10, 11-3, 7-11, 10-12, 11-6).
Article By: ITTF - Ian Marshall
Photo By: Donald Chin
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