Other Events | 29 Apr 2014

LIU Jia enjoys her time in Tokyo

Two opening rounds at the Women’s Team’s Event at the ZEN-NOH 2014 World Team Championships were easy for Germany. After success against Croatia, team beat Ukraine by same margin – 3:0. It is good booster for the team that plays without Chinese players in

Two opening rounds at the Women’s Team’s Event at the ZEN-NOH 2014 World Team Championships were easy for Germany. After success against Croatia, team beat Ukraine by same margin – 3:0. It is good booster for the team that plays without Chinese players in Japan. Latter Germany justified their dominancy by beating Czech Republic. “The victory is so important for all of us, especially for the younger girls. Petrissa SOLJA and Sabine WINTER are fighting for their chances in future and each of those matches gives them more confidence,” said silver medalists in singles event at the European championships 2011 Irene IVANCAN. “Our aspirations are always high. We are here to fight for medal.”

In the same group, in the morning, Croatia and Czech Republic went full distance. It was TIAN Yuan in Croatia’s outfit who forced Czech Republic to go full distance. TIAN overcame Renata STRBIKOVA and Iveta VACENOVSKA, but the rest of the team was unable to follow. VACENOVSKA overcame Lea RAKOVAC and Renata STRBIKOVA as well, whilst Hana MATELOVA succeeded against Ivana TUBIKANEC. Very young team of Croatia recovered for the afternoon session and overcame Serbia.

“I was beaten by ERDELJI but TIAN Yuan and Ivana TUBIKANEC were at the op of the game. I still suffered a little from a jet leg. Just arrived from Argentina. It is minus 5 degree Celsius there,” explained Lea RAKOVAC, who secured her place at the Olympic Youth Games in Nanjing. In Group C LIU Jia of Austria added two more victories to her untouched account. Like yesterday, she is unbeaten, but this time, against Poland, the rest of the team followed. Austria beat Polish girls 3:1.

LIU Jia, European champion from Aarhus 2005 and winner of Top-12 in Rennes same year, came back from maternity leave this year to repeat the success at the DHS 2014 Europe Cup. In Japan she preserved same shape like few months earlier. “I play without oscillations, my game is stable, but that is just the part of success that I am experiencing now. Much more important is that I am relaxed and that I enjoy every moment of the play; every moment of the competition; every moment of friendship with the girls in the team and after the match with the other players. I am much more open, now I love to talk and I am looking forward each event. I am not getting younger, who knows how long I am going to play in national team, so I want to enjoy as much as I can the time I have now,” said LIU Jia.

In the evening Austria beat Slovakia. France beat Russia yesterday; today they lost against Korea Republic. Only 15 years old Audrey ZARIF had premiere in that match. First appearance for the senior team made great impression on European silver medalist in cadet category, as well as Top 10 winner in 2012. “I am so happy that I get a chance to play. In the opening game against PARK Youngsook I was in the lead 5:1, had 9:6, but I had a problem with her service,” explained ZARIF who will also play at the Olympic Youth Games in Nanjing this summer.

 

Milica NIKOLIC, EWT, Milica NIKOLIC, EWT

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