The leading names in the qualification stage of the Men’s Singles
event at the Harmony China Open all booked their places in the main
draw following the conclusion of first phase matches in Suzhou non
Thursday 4th June 2009.
Upsets were few and far between; the
order of merit predominantly prevailed. England’s Paul Drinkhall,
Austria’s Daniel Habesohn, Chinese Taipei’s Huang Shen-Sheng,
Singapore’s Ma Liang and Liu Zhong Ze plus the Korean trio of Jo Ji
Hoon, Jeong Sang Eun and Ko Jae Bok, all reserved places in the first
round proper.
Reverse for Singaporean
The
only one of the octet to experience a reverse was Liu Zong Ze; on the
opening day of play he was beaten by Korea’s Cho Eon Rae who confirmed
his place as the group winner one day later with victory over Hong
Kong’s Li Kwun Ngai.
Second place for Liu Zhong Ze but with the
top two players guaranteed a place in the main draw, the Singaporean
received his visa for entry.
More Ruthless
However, in the Women’s Singles event life was more ruthless.
Only the first player in each group was guaranteed a place in the main draw and there was major casualty.
No Place for Lau Sui Fei
Lau
Sui Fei, a vital member of the Hong Kong Women’s Team at the Liebherr
World Championships in Bremen in 2006 and winner of the Women’s Singles
title two years earlier at the Polish Open, failed to make the cut.
The
third highest world ranked player in action in the group stage, she was
beaten in seven games by 15 year old Yang Ha Eun of Korea.
Similar
Similarly,
there was no place in the main draw for Yang Ha Eun’s compatriot, Seok
Ha Jung; the eighth highest ranked in action, she was beaten on the
first day of play by North Korea’s Han Hye Song who duly completed her
group matches in first place by defeating England’s Kelly Sibley.
No Problems
However,
for Singapore’s Yu Meng Yu and Korea’s Lee Eun Hee, the highest two
world ranked players in action, there were no problems.
They
finished their group stage matches in top place as did Japan’s Reiko
Hiura, the fourth highest ranked plus the next three in line: Hong
Kong’s Sun Jin, Austria’s Li Qiangbing and China’s Li Xiaodan.
Close Call
Success but for Sun Jin it was close.
On
the first day of play, she defeated Korea’s Kang Mi Sun in five games
after the latter had overcome Chinese Taipei’s Liu Hising-Yin in six
games; however, on the second day of play Sun Jin suffered defeat.
She
was beaten by Liu Hsing-Yin in seven games; the end result was that Sun
Jin finished in first place in the group on games ratio.
It was a close call for the former Chinese international.
Source: www.ittf.com
