Other Events | 6 Nov 2019

England beat Japan

Photo: ITTF

ZEN-NOH 2019 ITTF Team World Cup

At the opening day of the ZEN-NOH 2019 ITTF Team World Cup in Tokyo Germany recoreded two straight matches wins and England recorded the victory over host nation. In Women’s Teams Event Romania

Whilst Germany secured top position in their respective Group after victories over Brazil and Austria, England is yet to play second match. Their encounter against Austria is scheduled for tomorrow. Top seed, Japan will have to wait for that one to discover will they advance beyond the group stage. Austria lost their match against hosts.

The English team led by fantastic Liam PITCHFORD created the upset in the opening match in Group B. Seeded at the position no. 9, they overcame no. 2 seeds at home soil 3-1. Koki NIWA and Maharu YOSHIMURA overcame Tom JARVIS and Paul DRINKHALL in the opening encounter, but after that Liam PITCHFORD changed the course of the match. He beat Tomokazu HARIMOTO in full distance; DRINKHALL stayed on his path. Paul was 2-1 down, but he recovered and overcame YOSHIMURA. PITCHFORD sealed the match on his second exit to the table.

“We showed again today that we are a good team and we can beat any player in the singles but we just need to work on our doubles. It was a good feeling winning against Japan in such a beautiful hall. We had learnt to stay together and also have fun together and this has made us stronger as a team” said Liam PITCHFORD.

Paul explained further:

"It was a good feeling winning against Japan in our first match. We had started slow in the doubles but we won the singles which were also very close and what we need to do now is work hard on the doubles ahead of next match."

Austria suffered opposite fate. In Doubles Stefan FEGERL and Daniel HABESOHN secured good start before Japan took over the control in singles. NIWA and YOSHIMURA lost doubles in five games, but HARIMOTO leveled the match with the 3-0 win over Robert GARDOS. HABESOHN stretched NIWA to full distance, but failed to score after fine recovery from 0-2; HARIMOTO beat FEGERL in straight games.

"After winning the doubles match, we were a bit more confidence going into the singles but being my first match in the competition, it was a bit difficult for me against HARIMOTO. Also Harimoto was a bit strong and he played very well. We knew that Harimoto would win two matches, we were targeting that after winning the doubles, we could at least win. Unfortunately, we were not in the game having played two strong matches for our clubs in the leagues in France and Germany as well as travelling long hours to Tokyo on Monday, so it was a bit tiring for us. We will be hoping to win 3-1 against England to be sure of progressing to the next round. Also, the tournament will surely boost our confidence going into the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualifiers next year" said GARDOS.

Germany had and easy day in the office. Timo BOLL played only in doubles with Patrick FRANZSIKA, whilst Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and FRANZISKA were on duty in singles against Australia and Brazil. Morning match against Australia finished in straight games in all three matches, whilst against Brazil Gustavo TSUBOI and Eric JOUTI streched German pairings to full distance. JOUTI also put some pressure on FRANZISKA in singles.

Sweden lost to Republic of Korea in four matches. Jon PERSSON and Kristian KARLSSON overcame JEOUNG Youngsik and LEE Sangsu 3-2. Anton KALBERG and both PERSSON and KARLSSON lost their singles matches.

"I think after winning the first doubles match, we were confident that we could win I also had a good chance to win my singles but unfortunately I lost. I was very disappointed that we lost but we must remain focus for the final group match against the United States. We must win or go home and I know both teams will be playing under pressure having lost the first match. I am sure we have a good chance if we could start well" said KALLBERG.

In Women’s Teams’ Event Romania lost to Chinese Taipei. Elizabeta SAMARA and Daniela DODEAN MONTEIRO overcame CHENG Hsien-Tzu and CHEN Szu-Yu TPE in straight games, but in singles Romania failed to score. Vanautu is the next adversary.

In Group A China recorded two wins, one of them against Ukraine. Tetyana BILENKO and Gana GAPONOVA lost in doubles, whilst Slomiya BRATEYKO and GAPONOVA suffered in singles. Tomorrow they will play against Egypt.

Host nation needed only three matches to beat Austria. Amelie SOLJA, Karoline MISCHEK and LIU Jia suffered by the hands of Kasumi ISHIKAWA, Miu HIRANO and Mima ITO.

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