On June 29, Beijing time, the WTT Tunisia Regular Challenge entered the penultimate day of competition, and the singles quarterfinals have been released (see the chart below for details)! Japan became the biggest winner, with 6 spots in the top 8 of men's singles; The top 8 in women's singles occupy half! South Korea's singles 5 people are out, only Zhu Qianxi is left; India's all-main force was wiped out, and the details are brought below.
As we all know, the national table tennis team is currently conducting a closed training camp in Chengdu and is collectively absent from this event. Before the Paris Olympics, in addition to this competition, there is only one last tournament left under the World Table Tennis Federation in the adult category, which is the WTT Bangkok Star Challenge held from July 2 to July 7.
And this event is attended by national table tennis players, and they are the main players, Lin Gaoyuan and Chen Xingtong play hand in hand! Coupled with the main forces of South Korea and Japan and many foreign association masters, the Bangkok Star Challenge will definitely attract the attention of many fans.
Looking back at the Tunisian regular challenge, although the national table tennis players were collectively absent, the Japanese singles were led by the Zhang Ben brothers and sisters, and a total of 15 players were sent to participate, including 8 men's singles and 7 women's singles;
South Korea's singles 6 players participated, led by Zhu Qianxi, and the remaining 5 were non-main players; India's singles is an all-main player, including the four players selected for the singles squad for the Paris Olympics (women's singles Batra, Akula; Men's Singles Achanta; Desai) all participated, and the results have been wiped out so far.
First of all, let's look at the situation of the Japanese team, the eight participants in the men's singles are, Tomokazu Zhangmoto, Yoshimura Maharu, Matsushima Terukoru, Shinozuka Daito, Yoshiyama Eichi, Tanaka Yutai, and Kawa Ruiki, Uda Yuya. The last 3 players of the above 8 players need to start from the men's singles qualifying round, and all of them pass the qualifying test and advance to the men's singles main draw.
In the first round of the men's singles main event, Yoshiyama and Tanaka Yutai lost out, the former lost 1-3 to France's Dole; The latter also lost 1-3 to France's Simon Goetz.
The remaining 6 players in the Japanese table tennis men's singles have not lost, so far among the top 8 men's singles, the Japanese table tennis men's team occupies 6 seats, I have to say that in this competition, the Japanese table tennis men's team has indeed stood up! Tomokazu Zhangmoto is the top seed in the men's singles and is the favorite to win the championship from the current point of view.
The 7 Japanese table tennis women's singles participants are Miwa Zhangmoto, Miyu Nagasaki, Satsuki Oto, Sakura Mori, Asuka Sasao, Sakura Yokoi, and Kasumi Kimura.
In the first round of the women's singles main event, Asuka Sasao lost in the civil war and lost to teammate Sakura Mori 1-3; In the second round of the women's singles, which is the 1/8 finals, Kasumi Kimura, who has rarely participated in international competitions before, lost 1-3 to the second seed of the women's singles and Puerto Rico star Diaz, and missed the women's singles top 8.
It is worth mentioning that it is Kimura Xiangjun, a player who has no world ranking, who defeated the main player of the Indian women's table tennis team in the first round of the women's singles team, Akula, who was selected for the Paris Olympic team, to know that Akula just won the women's singles championship of the Lagos regular challenge, and in February this year, she defeated Wang Yidi, the main player of the national table tennis women's team, 3-0 in the Busan team World Table Tennis Championships.
The Japanese women's singles occupies 4 of the top 8 spots, and the overall performance is also very strong! Among them, Miwa Zhang, ranked 7th in the world, is the top seed in the women's singles and the favorite to win the women's singles championship in this tournament.
Next, take a look at the situation of the South Korean team, the South Korean team did not send absolute main players to participate in this event, a total of 6 players were sent in singles, 3 men and 3 women's singles, the men's singles were Lin Liunu, Jin Minyu, Zhao Qiting, these 3 players rarely participated in international competitions before, and the overall ability is really not high.
South Korea's women's singles 3 are Zhu Qianxi, Liu Shiyu, Kim Sungjin, of which Zhu Qianxi is a player very familiar to fans, and is currently promoted to the top 8 of women's singles, while the remaining two players are out, so far only Zhu Qianxi is left in Korean singles.
Finally, looking at the situation of the Indian team, which has a relatively eye-catching overall performance recently, India sent all the main players to play in this event, including Batra, Akula, Achanta, and Desai 4 absolute main players selected for the singles squad of the Paris Olympics, but the overall performance of the Indian team in this event was very bad, and none of the players advanced to the top 8 of singles.
In the first round of the men's singles main event, Desai lost 1-3 to Japanese players and Ruiki Chuan; In the men's singles 1/8 finals, Achanta lost 2-3 to another Japanese player, Yoshimura Maharu; In the first round of the women's singles main event, Akula lost 2-3 to Japanese player Kasumi Kimura, causing a big upset; In the women's singles 1/8 finals, India's "first sister" Batra lost and lost 2-3 to India's Sutasini, so far India's singles were wiped out.
The Men's Singles quarter-finals are:
Top half: Tomokazu Haramoto (Japan) VS and Ruiki Kawa (Japan); Grote (Denmark) VS Teruku Matsushima (Japan)
Bottom half: Yukiya Uda (Japan) vs Puka (Croatia); Maharu Yoshimura (Japan) VS Daito Shinozuka (Japan)
The Women's Singles quarter-finals are:
Top half: Miwa Haramoto (Japan) VS Carlberg (Sweden); Sakura Yokoi (Japan) VS Zhu Qianxi (Korea)
Bottom half: Sazuki Oto (Japan) vs Sutasini (Thailand); Miyu Nagasaki (Japan) vs Diaz (Puerto Rico)
To sum up, it is not difficult to see that in this Tunisia regular challenge, both Japanese men's and women's singles have hope of winning the top 4. I believe that in the WTT Thailand Bangkok Star Challenge, which starts on July 2, with the participation of national table tennis players, the Japanese team will not be so arrogant!