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South Korea ready to face China in table tennis semis
Joo Sae-hyuk of South Korea competes at the 2016 World Table Tennis Championships quarter-finals match in Kuala Lumpur. – Reuters pic, March 4, 2016.South Korea is ready to stand up and be counted against world number one China when both face off in the semifinals of the men's World Team Table Tennis Championship (WTTC), tomorrow.
Coach Lee Chul-Seung said his team, ranked world number four, will fight tooth and nail against China, despite knowing it would be difficult to overcome the Great Wall of China.
"Today's game (quarterfinal) was very important for us. In the last edition, we lost at the same stage to Chinese Taipei 2-3 after playing five games. Tomorrow against China, we have a chance to win...In table tennis sometimes winning is hard, sometimes it is tangible.
"However, we will fight hard," the two-time Olympics bronze medalist in the doubles event told Bernama.
In the quarterfinals played at the Malawati Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, South Korea beat world number five, Portugal, 3-1 to reach the semis.
In today's match, 2013 Asian Championship gold medalist, Lee Sang-Su defeated Joao Monteiro 11-4, 11-13, 11-8, 12-10 while Joo Sae-Hyuk outclassed world number 11, Marcos Freitas 11-6, 11-8, 13-15, 11-3.
However, in the third singles, world number 13, Jung Young-Sik suffered a 5-11, 10-12, 12-10, 6-11 defeat against Tiago Apolonia before Sae-Hyuk confirmed the semifinal spot by defeating Joao Monteiro 11-5, 10-12, 12-14, 11-7, 11-9 in the fourth singles.
Meanwhile, China powered by world number one, Ma Long, avenged its loss to Sweden 16 years ago, incidentally in the 2000 edition hosted by Kuala Lumpur, with a 3-0 white wash to reach the semifinals.
"We are happy that we avenged our defeat to Sweden in Malaysia. We lost to them when Malaysia hosted the championship, but this time luck was on our side," said China's coach Liu Guo Liang.
In another semifinal tomorrow, Japan which defeated Hong 3-1 will meet either England or France.
A total of 99 countries, comprising 81 women's teams and 91 men's teams are vying for the world title and ranking in four different divisions, namely championships, second, third and fourth division battles in the weeklong tournament hosted by the Table Tennis Association of Malaysia (TTAM). – Bernama, March 4, 2016.
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