Defending champion Wang out of English Table Tennis Open

Defending champion Wang Liqin was knocked out of the men's single event by Portugese TiagoApolonia while the other five Chinese men players all went through the round 16 on Friday at the Pro Tour English Table Tennis Open.

Wang came to Sheffield as the reigning champion after he won the title in 2001, the English Open just stopped to play for eight years. However, the 31-year-old veteran failed to teach a lesson to his eight-year younger opponent in the first round, surrendering 11-5, 5-11, 7-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6.

The Olympic champion Ma Lin, 29, also met strong challenges from French Adrien Mattenet in the first round but managed to overcome after seven games 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 12-14, 11-8, 11-13, 11-6.

"The two veterans are facing challenges now," said the Chinese men's team head coach Liu Guoliang. "The youngsters won the games much more easily today but they need to prove them later in much tougher confronts."

The youngsters Liu talked about were Chen Qi, Xu Xin, Zhang Jike and Ma Long. The 25-year-old Chen defeated the host hopeful Paul Drinkhall 4-0 in the second round while Xu Xin, 19, outplayed2004 Olympic champion Ryu Seung Min from South Korea also in four games.

Ma Long and Zhang Jike, both at the age of 21, are going to encounter in the round 16 on Saturday. With the absence of world No. 1 Wang Hao, world No. 2 Ma Long became the top seed of the event.

Ma said he was not in his best form as he was a little bit tired after three consecutive competitions and he didn't set any goal for himself this time.

Wang could continue his journey in the men's double as he and partner Ma Long beat Daniel Gorak and Wang Zeng Yi from Poland 4-1.

Ma Lin and Xu Xin are going to meet German Timo Boll and Christian Suss in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

Besides, Liu Shiwen, Ding Ning and Guo Yan all booked their places in the women's round 16, but Li Xiaodan was defeated by Japanese Ai Fukuhara. Ding Ning obtained the opportunity to revenge for her teammate as she is slated to play Fukuhara on Saturday.

The 18-year-old promising star Liu also entered the quarterfinals of the women's double together with Ding Ning. Chang Chenchen and Guo Yan made the same achievements.

Source: Xinhua