One fact is certain and one fact is more than the possible; that is the scenario for the Volkswagen Women’s World Cup.
The
tournament commences in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Saturday 6th
September and concludes with the final, three days later, on Monday 8th
September 2008.
A certain fact is that a new champion will be
crowned; the more than possible fact is that the champion will be from
the People’s Republic of China, the country which currently dominates
the global table tennis scene.
Neither, Zhang Yining nor Wang Nan are competing; the latter retired
from international table tennis when matters came to a conclusion at
the Beijing Olympic Games, whilst one week ago, Zhang Yining withdrew
from the annual event.
Eight Titles Shared
Both
Zhang Yining and Wang Nan have won the Women’s World Cup title on four
occasions, whilst the other three winners have all been Chinese
compatriots of the two celebrated stars.
Deng Yaping won the
first ever Women’s World Cup crown when she succeeded in Hong Kong in
1996, whilst in 2000 the successful player was Li Ju and more recently
in 2006, Guo Yan secured gold.
Li Ju and Deng Yaping have long since retired from international play whilst the name Guo Yan was not on the list of invitees.
Top Seeds
Top
seed in 2008 in the Malaysian capital city is China’s Guo Yue, the
reigning world champion with colleague Li Xiaoxia, the player she beat
in the Women’s Singles final at the Liebherr World Championships in
2007, seeded two.
Singapore’s Li Jia Wei, who gained fourth
places in the Women’s Singles event at the Beijing Olympic Games, is
seeded three with compatriot, Wang Yue Gu, the winner at the Brazilian
Open earlier in the year, seeded four.
Strong Opposition
In
the group stage Guo Yue faces strong opposition from Hong Kong’s Jiang
Huajun and the Dominican Republic’s Wu Xue; the former a player with
arguably the most powerful backhand in female table tennis, the latter
a Women’s Singles quarter-finalists at the Beijing Olympics.
Yang Fen of Congo Brazzaville, the African champion, completes the group.
Singaporean Threat
Strong
opposition for Guo Yue and also for Li Xiaoxia; she confronts
Singapore’s Feng Tianwei, a player who impressed at the Olympics and
has made a meteoric rise to table tennis stardom in the past twelve
months.
Also, in the group appear two continental champions
who have experience and may well ask questions; the players being Li
Jiao from the Netherlands, the European champion and Miao Miao from
Australia, the Oceania champion.
No Lapses of Concentration
Meanwhile, for both Li Jia Wei and Wang Yue Gu they can afford no lapses of concentration.
Li
Jia Wei faces Hong Kong’s talented Tie Yana plus the experienced Gao
Jun of the United States and one of Europe’s rising hopes, Hungary’s
Georgina Pota.
Similarly there are testing opponents for Wang
Yue Gu. She confronts the defensive skills of Korea’s Kim Kyung Ah, the
replacement for Zhang Yining plus Romania’s determined Daniela Dodean
and the representative from Malaysia, Beh Lee Wei.
Format
Initially play is in groups of four players with the first and second placed players progressing to the quarter-finals.
Source: www.ittf.com
