Other Events | 26 Oct 2013

Three Europeans in Men´s World Cup semis

In the semi final of the LIEBHERR 2013 Men´s World Cup in Belgium’s Verviers XU Xin of China will play against Dimitrij OVTCHAROV of Germany, whilst Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus will meet Timo BOLL of Germany. The draw for the quarterfinal worked in favor

In the semi final of the LIEBHERR 2013 Men´s World Cup in Belgium’s Verviers XU Xin of China will play against Dimitrij OVTCHAROV of Germany, whilst Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus will meet Timo BOLL of Germany. The draw for the quarterfinal worked in favor of Europeans since YAN An was drawn to face the top seed XU Xin in the Round of last 8.

In the quarterfinal XU Xin overcame YAN An 4:0 (11:7, 11:7, 11:7, 11:4). OVTCHAROV overcame TANG Peng of Hong Kong. TANG had no chance in closing stages of the match 1:4 (9:11, 11:9, 11:13, 5:11, 5:11). So far TANG managed to beat OVTCHAROV only once in Kuwait 2006, whilst German player succeeded four times previously. However the ratio is the same when we talk about his next opponent, but in favour of XU. Chinese star beat OVTCHAROV 4 times before. Last time Dimitrij celebrated it was in 2010 at German open. It will be first semis at World Cup for Dimitrij.

“I want to be at the podium. I play much faster, harder and more athletic. Chinese Super League made that happened, but winning the title at the European championships gave me some extra power,” stated OVTCHAROV.

SAMSONOV who played 15 times at World Cup since 1980, lost only one game as well. CHUANG Chih-Yuan of Taipei suffered in five sets (6:11, 13:11, 12:14, 3:11, 8:11). BOLL was not in the mood for charity. He overcame Marcos FREITAS in straight games (11:7, 11:9, 12:10, 11:6). At the biggest ITTF Events BOLL and SAMSONOV has meet 10 times. BOLL was better in seven occasions.