Hyderabad: China completed a clean sweep of titles at the Volkswagen 2012 World Junior Table Tennis Championships after winning the girls and boys trophies, here on Sunday.
Earlier in the week they had won both the boys? and girls? team titles.
German Petrissa Solja, the only non-Chinese, lost her semifinal match to Chinese top seed Zhu Yuling in the morning who finished the day by rolling over Gu Yuting 4-0 for the girls crown.
The speed with which she disposed of her opponent is only half of the story. Her superior technique and never-say-die attitude tell the rest.
With equal felicity, she won several winners both off her back and forehands and was never in any sort of trouble after going 2-0 up.
Soon after Fan Zhendong overcame a two-game deficit to beat Lin Gaoyuan 4-2 (10-12, 7-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-8, 11-4) to claim the boys singles title.
Earlier, he had claimed the mixed doubles title too.
Fan took his time to size up his left-handed opponent and it cost him the first two games. Once Fan had things in his grip, it became easy as he went on to take the next four without much ado.
Lin made a few service errors along the way and in the ultimate analysis proved dear, the organizers said in a release.
Second-seeded pair of Fan Zhendong and Liu Gaoyang made a surprising recovery to beat the top-seeded compatriots Lin Gaoyuan and Gu Ruochen 4-3 (11-6, 11-5, 11-9, 11-8) to take gold in the boys doubles.
Gu Yuting and Zhu Yuling downed Gu Ruochen and Liu Gaoyang 4-3 for girls double gold and the mixed doubles gold went to Fan Zhendong and Liu Gaoyang who beat the Lin Gaoyuan and Gu Ruochen combine 4-3.
Earlier, things became clear which side of the balance is becoming heavier.
Germany’s Petrissa Solja, who excelled throughout, could not match the Chinese top seed Zhu Yuling as the latter won in straight sets.
In the other semifinals, Gu Yuting defeated Gu Ruochen in the all-Chinese semifinal 4-1.
In a way, the semifinals ended along expected lines with the top two seeds entering the final.
Petrissa was straightaway into attack and went 6-3 up with her top spin play off back and forehands doing the tricks.
However, Zhu getting into her grove to level 6-6 but at 10-8 Petrissa held the advantage but her opponent saved two game points.
At 11-10 Zhu took lead for the first time and a fortunate edge saw her taking the first game.
The German tried her best to salvage but with her nerves settled, the Chinese had the measure of her rival.
Petrissa’s receiving was poor in the second yet she ran the Chinese close.
She was, however, unable to work her angles as well and Zhu?s consistency saw her through. Though the pattern continued in the two games, the Chinese always had the upper hand to complete the task.
Second-seeded Gu Yuting had a nervous start but overcame the early hiccups to go 1-0 up against Ruochen.
Lacking in experience somewhat, Ruochen was struggling against Yuting?s controlled aggression. Yet Ruochen?s consistency level was good and that is what won her the third game.
But that’s all she could do as Yuting’s percentage speed game kept improving and it had no answer from Ruochen.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, December 16, 2012, 22:05