Vladimir SAMSONOV put ZHANG Jike on test

2016 ITTF World Tour Laox Open

For most of the players the 2016 ITTF World Tour Laox Open will be the last tournament before the start of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.  More the month before the start of the Games Chinese players once again demonstrated their power. They dominated proceedings at the quarter-final stage of the Men’s Singles event.

Four Chinese players MA Long FAN Zhendong XU Xin and ZHANG Jike booked all four places that lead to the semis. It was the end of the road for Jun MIZUTANI Simon GAUZY WONG Chun Ting and Vladimir SAMSONOV.

In Tokyo ZHANG Jike the no.4 seed was once again tested; he needed six games to overcome Vladimir SAMSONOV the no.8 seed (11-8 5-11 15-13 11-2 8-11 11-6).

Ma Long the top seed ended the hopes of the host nation by beating Jun MIZUTANI the no.5 seed in four straight games (11-7 11-8 11-9 11-8). FAN Zhendong the no.2 seed overcame Frenchman Simon GAUZY in five games (7-11 11-5 11-5 11-6 11-8).

XU Xin the no.3 seed ended the hopes of Hong Kong’s WONG Chun Ting by a similar margin (11-7 11-5 8-11 11-3 11-8).

At the semi-final stage MA Long meets XU Xin ZHANG Jike opposes FAN Zhendong. In Women’s Singles event at the semi-final stage LIU Shiwen meets ZHU Yuling DING Ning opposes CHENG I-Ching.