Dominant Chinese sweep away titles

China completed a sweep of titles on offer at the Volkswagen World Junior Table Tennis Championships here on Sunday. 

Earlier in the week, they had won the boys’ and girls’ team titles.  
The only non-Chinese, Petrissa Solja, lost her girls’ singles semifinal to Chinese top seed Zhu Yuling in the morning. And by the evening, Zhu rolled over Gu Yuting 4-0 for the crown.  

The speed with which she disposed off her opponent tells only half of the story. The other half is all about superior technique, appetite to add another feather to her crown and prove her top billing right. 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. 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. 

Second-seeded pair of Liu Gaoyuan and Xu Chenchao beat their top-seeded compatriots Fan Shengpeng and Fan Zhendong 4-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6) to take gold in the boys’ doubles. Gu Yuting and Zhu Yuling downed Gu Ruochen and Liu Gaoyang 4-3 for the girls’ doubles title.

Results (all finals): Junior Boys: Final: Fan Zhendong (Chn) bt Lin Gaoyuan (Chn) 10-12, 7-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-8, 11-4.  Doubles: Lin Gaoyuan/ Xu Chenhao (Chn) bt Fan Shengpeng/ Fan Zhendong (Chn) 11-8, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6.

Junior Girls: Final: Zhu Yuling (Chn) bt Gu Yuting (Chn) 11-6, 11-5, 11-9, 11-8.   Doubles: Gu Yuting/ Zhu Yuling (Chn) bt Gu Ruochen/ Liu Gaoyang (Chn) 8-11, 11-5, 5-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-4.

Mixed Doubles: Fan Zhendong/ Liu Gaoyang (Chn) bt Lin Gaoyuan/ Gu Ruoc-hen (Chn) 4-11, 4-11, 12-10, 4-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-9.