The Universiade Games are ongoing in Beijing. The official website is: http://www.u21.org.cn/. The team events have been completed. There is a write up of the men's team final at: http://news.u21.org.cn/news/newsen/20010826000251.htm. The write up of the women's team final is at: http://news.u21.org.cn/news/newsen/20010825223703.htm.
Of special interest is the success of Korean chopper Joo Se-Hyuk. He beat Taipei's top players Chuan Chih-Yuan and Chiang Peng-Lung in the exciting semifinal team match. Chuan had to come from behind to beat Korean Park Sang-Joon in a 3 game 5th match for the victory. Joo is a chopper with a strong attack game.
Here are some photo links, thanks to www.cn-tt.com:
The Chinese men's team preparing for the final. The player between Liu and Wang is Xi Minjie. Xi has a very unconventional serve. He beat Chiang at the University Games last year.
More pictues from team's final. Top player is Zhang Yong. Second from top is coach Shi Jihao, national team coach, ex-World Champion, and husband of Cao Yanhua (the best woman penholder ever from China, in my opinion). The bottom photo shows the Taipei team members throwing presents to the spectators.
A picture of Niu Jianfeng, shown with team doctor who is massaging her hand.
Photos of Niu Jianfeng. Niu played the number 1 singles position in the team final. The bottom shows her unconventional serve, which is probably legal under the new rules.
Click here for photos of the European stars. From top: Steff (Romania), Kim (North Korea), Ni (Luxembourg), and Boros (Croatia) at bottom.
Click here for more photos of the players in action. From top: Li Ju, Steff, Boros and Zhang Yining.
Click here for even more photos.
Ai Fukuhara. Young 13-year-old Japanese phenom played recently at a U-17 challenge series in China. She lost to this 13-year-old youngster (bottom photo) Wang Yanan. Wang's mother is the famous ex-World Champion Chai Po Heung (translation before pinyin), sister of Chai PoWah who played for Hong Kong.
Chiang Peng-Lung playing in the Super League.
After the World Cup, the European women players (Steff, Boros, Toth, etc.,) tour China and play a series of matches against Super League teams. They went to Tongshan to play the Beijing team led by Zhang Yining, Guo Yan and Jia Beibei. The Chinese team won 5-0 over the European all-star team. Read the ITTF write up here. Then they played the Tianjin Samsung team led by Li Nan. Again the Europeans lost 5-0. Photos from Tianjin here.
