The fourth day of play, Saturday 1st November 2008, at the Erke Austrian Open in Salzburg ended in sheer delight for the host nation; the Men’s Team trio of Werner Schlager, Chen Weixing and Robert Gardos delivered the goods.
Deliver the goods they did and they delivered the goods in style. They beat Japan by three-nil to secure the top prize.
Austria justified their top seeded position and responded to the pressure situation of playing on home soil and being expected to finish proceedings on the top step of the medal podium.
Good Start to Proceedings
Werner Schlager started proceedings by beating Taku Takakiwa in four games, the 2003 World Champion winning 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 whilst Chen Weixing followed suit to overcome Kenta Matsudaira.
Chen Weixing succeeded by the margin of 11-3, 12-10, 6-11, 11-5.
Doubles Success
Two four games wins and it was a five games win to bring matters to an end; Chen Weixing returned to the fray and with his tried and trusted partner defeated Seiya Kishikawa and Kenta Matsudaira.
The Austrians won 11-7, 11-5, 7-11, 9-11, 11-8.
Consolation
It was the silver medal for Japan but they can take great consolation in their efforts.
They fielded a young team, only Seiya Kishikawa of the trio that played in the Beijing Olympic Games and came so close to beating Germany at the penultimate stage was present, whilst none of those who played in the vital contests at the Evergrande Real Estate World Team Championships competed in Salzburg.
There was no Kan Yo, Jun Mizutani or Kaii Yoshida.
Young Team
It was a young team and the nation that shook the table tennis world in the 1950s is surely looking ahead to more than a decade of reviving past glories.
Not too many miles away in Sweden the young Japanese players are excelling at the ITTF Cadet Challenge and ITTF Junior Circuit Finals; in Salzburg another group of young players has impressed.
Top Prize
It was a fine effort by the Japanese but at the end of the day; the top prize lay in the hands of Austria.
The home supporters went home happy on Saturday 1st November 2008.
Source: www.ittf.com
