Nigeria’s 34 year old Segun Toriola caused the major shock in the
second round of the Men’s Singles event at the Erke German Open in
Berlin on Friday 21st November 2008, when he beat the host nation’s
Dimitrij Ovtcharov, the no.2 seed, in six games to book his place in
round three.
Segun Toriola won 8-11, 11-6, 11-5, 5-11, 12-10, 11-4.
Dimitrij Ovtcharov currently occupies the no.14 spot on the ITTF Men’s World Rankings whilst Segun Toriola is at no.65.
Another Impressive Performance
It was yet another good performance by the Nigerian.
He
impressed at the Olympic Games in Beijing and at the Liebherr Men’s
World Cup in September beating Singapore’s Gao Ning before losing
narrowly in seven games to Kalinikos Kreanga of Greece.
Climbing World Rankings
In recent months there has been meteoric progress and that fact is reflected in his climb up the world rankings.
He
stood at no.115 on the Men’s World Ranking list in August; following
his fine performance at the Beijing Olympic Games he appeared at no.74
in September and one month later climbed to no.65; the position he
still holds.
Best Ever for Nigerian
"Yes,
it has been a very successful year; important for me was my good
performance at the Olympic Games in Beijing", said Segun Toriola.
"Never before has a player from Africa had managed to proceed to the
round of the last 32."
The performance in Beijing was
outstanding and in Liège at the Liebherr Men’s World Cup he showed
himself to be a player of world class. In Berlin, he continued in the
same vein.
Vital Game
"It’s
the first time that we’ve met", explained Segun Toriola. "I knew it
would be a tough fight; I think the fifth game was the crucial one, I
won four points in a row to steal the game."
Winning a close game adds to confidence; it did just that for Segun Toriola; he won the sixth and was home and dry.
Leung Chu Yan in Form
The
victory of Segun Toriola over Dimitrij Ovtcharov was the headline
grabbing news of the round and rather overshadowed the fine performance
of Hong Kong’s Leung Chu Yan. Seeded no.23, he defeated Japan’s Jun
Mizutani, the no.8 seed, in a close seven games encounter.
Unable
to command a place in the Hong Kong team at the Olympic Games, Leung
Chu Yan showed his pedigree. He won a gruelling contest 9-11, 11-8,
11-8, 12-14, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8.
Exit Kan Yo
Reverses
two highly seeded players and also for a third; seeded no.22 Petr
Korbel defeated Japan’s Kan Yo, seeded no.6, in five games to book his
place in round three.
Petr Korbel won 11-8, 11-5, 11-8, 9-11, 11-4.
Defeats for three highly rated players but for the other star names it was good news.
Top Half of Draw
In
the top half of the draw, top seed Germany’s Timo Boll came through
successfully as did fourth seed, Hong Kong’s Cheung Yuk; the former
beat compatriot Christian Süss, the latter overcame Bastian Steger,
also of Germany.
Success for Boll and in addition in the top
half of the draw; victories for Romania’s Adrian Crisan, Japan’s Kaii
Yoshida, Denmark’s Michael Maze and Poland’s Wang Zeng Yi.
Lower Half of Draw
Meanwhile,
in the lower half of the draw, third seed Chuan Chih-Yuan defeated
Serbia’s Aleksandar Karakasevic, whilst fifth seed Gao Ning overcame
Chinese Taipei’s Wu Chioh-Chi.
Also successful in the lower half
and through to round two are Spain’s He Zhi Wen, Germany’s Lars
Hielscher, the Dominican Republic’s Lin Ju and Hong Kong’s Jiang Tianyi.
Source: www.ittf.com
