Under the bright lights of the Lusail Sports Arena in Doha, Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha of the Chinese mainland overcame a dramatic pre-match racket scare to deliver a masterclass in mixed doubles.
Just before their round of 32 match at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals, Wang found the rubber peeling off his blade. After Chinese coach Xiao Zhan raised the alarm, umpires inspected the gear, ruled the tear accidental, and cleared a backup racket.
Refreshed and refocused, the duo steamrolled Brazil’s Hugo Calderano and Bruna Takahashi 11-2, 11-7, 11-4 to clinch victory in quick time.
With Romania’s Ovidiu Ionescu and Elizabeta Samara withdrawing through injury, Wang and Sun earned a direct ticket to the quarterfinals. “We faced an unknown pairing and were a bit anxious,” said Wang. “Our prep paid off.”
“Our chemistry is stronger every match,” added Sun. “We synced from the first serve.”
The ITTF and the Chinese Table Tennis Association then convened to investigate the racket incident, pledging to review venue footage and report findings on how the rubber tore.
Earlier in the day, Wang swept past Brazil’s Leonardo Iizuka in straight games (11-3, 11-3, 11-5, 11-4) to advance in men’s singles. World No. 1 Sun made short work of Pyon Song Gyong of the DPRK, winning 11-2, 11-5, 11-9, 11-4 in women’s singles.
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Wang shrugs off racket problem to advance with Sun in mixed doubles
cgtn.com
