Men's
:
Wang Liqin suffered a very frustrating loss to Ma Lin in the Shanghai-Luneng
tie. Shanghai ended up losing 0-4. Afterwards, Wang said that he was exhausted
and did not have any spirit in that match. The Shanghai team was in trouble:
it did not have a reliable number-2 player and the Wang/Guo pair had yet
to win its first match. The team sorely needed Feng Zhe, who was currently
playing in Germany.
Sichuan won again, beating Hebei 3-1. Nanjing upset Shaanxi 3-1. In this tie Liu Guoliang lost his singles and his doubles. Leung Chu Yan, from Hong Kong, had been ineffective for Shaanxi, having lost all his singles matches so far.
Heilongjiang had to come from behind to beat the young Tianjin club 3-2. Kong scored a Golden Ball match victory over Hao Shuai 5-1 to clinch the victory.
PLA, led by Wang Hao, gave Guangdong its first defeat of the season. It was a surprisingly easy win for PLA, which went up 3-0 after the first 3 singles. Bai Shi supplied the upset in this tie, by beating Qin Zhijian 3-0. Guangdong was without the services of Ko Lai Chak, who was playing at the Italian Open for Hong Kong.
Zhejiang, led by Cheung Yuk and Jin Enhua, stayed unbeaten. It scored a 3-1 victory over Beijing. Cheung and Jin won all their outings in this tie.
Women's:
Liaoning beat Tianjin 3-1, with Li Nan scoring the only point for Tianjin. Luneng had to come back to beat Henan 3-2, needing a Golden Ball match win by Li Fun over Guo Yue to clinch the victory. Li also beat Guo earlier in the second singles. Hebei blew by PLA 4-0, and Jiangsu won over Shanxi 3-1.
Gao Jun won her singles match against Mei Lele of Guangdong, but Shanghai
lost the tie 1-3. Beijing had to struggle to beat Sichuan 3-2. Both Zhang
Yining and Guo Yan were upset in the singles.