The Chinese Women’s Team, whatever players are chosen, is a step
ahead of the field; it was a point that was underlined at the recent
H.I.S. World Championships in Yokohama.
Simply they were
magnificent and a bookmaker will only give odds on that female players
from China will make a clean sweep of medals at the London 2012 Olympic
Games.
It is now 16 years since a non Chinese player was
anointed Women’s Singles World champion, the lady in question being the
quietly spoken Hyun Jung-Hwa, currently the Women’s National Coach for
Korea.
It is hard to imagine the very demure Korean as being a relentless attacking player who took no prisoners.
She won in Gothenburg in 1993.
Beyond 2012
Certainly,
in the near future the Chinese female dominance appears set to continue
but looking beyond 2012 could the hegemony be about to change.
Step forward 16 year Kasumi Ishikawa of Japan and 15 year old Yang Ha Eun of Korea.
Both
have underlined the fact that they are potential threats to the rule of
China and both endorsed that fact at the current Harmony China Open in
Suzhou on Thursday 4th June 2009.
Excellent Performances
At
the H.I.S. World Championships Kasumi Ishikawa was carried the flag of
the Rising Sun to the quarter-finals before a certain Zhang Yining
ended aspirations whilst Yang Ha Eun has not lost a singles match on
the ITTF Junior Circuit in 2009.
She won both the Junior Girls
and Cadet Girls’ Singles titles in Bahrain, Qatar and France; currently
being the leader on the Girls’ Singles Standings on he ITTF Junior
Circuit.
In Suzhou, both finished as group winners.
Successes
Kasumi
Ishikawa beat Korea’s Shim Se Rom to finish her group in first place
whilst Yang Ha Eun caused one of the upsets of the day.
In a
close seven games encounter she overcame the vastly experienced Lau Sui
Fei of Hong Kong, the third highest world ranked player in action.
Look Ahead
Both players showed their pedigree and both endorsed the fact that are potential threats to the might of China.
London 2012 may be too soon but looking beyond, who knows?
Source: www.ittf.com
