Am Jae-hyun (Photo WTT)
The crowd at OVO Arena Wembley were left stunned on Saturday night, as Korea pulled off a historic 3-1 win over defending men’s team champion China to give the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals London title race a whole new complexion.
Gold medal winners of every championships since 2001, China hadn’t lost a match at this level in 25 years and looked to be well on course to extend that jaw-dropping run, taking an early lead through Lin Shidong, who dispatched Kim Jang-won with ease 12-10, 11-5, 11-2.
Oh Juns-ung immediately pulled the Korean team level with an electric display against Liang Jingkun, wining 6-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-9 and signalling to their Chinese counterparts that they were in for a long night.
The concern from the Chinese faithful would soon become justified as An Jae-hyun showed exactly why he’s got everyone talking these past 12 months, showing tremendous character and fighting spirit to outlast Zhou Qihao across four games 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 20-18, giving Korea a surprise lead.
Despite being on the cusp of a famous victory, Korea Republic was still left with a mountain to climb, needing another win to put the result beyond doubt. With former World No.1 Lin Shidong up next, the odds suggested the full match distance would be required.
But another astonishing performance followed from Oh Junsung, who defied expectations for the second time in the match, playing some of the best table tennis of his career to see off Lin 3-1 (11-9, 5-11, 12-10, 11-9), making their Group 1 rivals sit up and take notice.
With that result, not only does China see its historic unbeaten run come to an end, but now puts Sweden in pole position in the group standings, with the European giants making two wins from two. China and Sweden collide on Sunday afternoon as the race for the top seeding positions continues.
RESULTS
Men’s
Group 1: Korea bt China 3-1; Sweden bt England 3-1; Sweden bt Korea 3-0; China bt England 3-0
Group 2: France bt Germany 3-1; Japan bt Chinese Taipei 3-0; Germany bt Japan 3-2; France bt Chinese Taipei 3-0
Women’s
Group 1: Romania bt Korea 3-2; China bt Chinese Taipei 3-0; Chinese Taipei bt Korea 3-1; China bt Romania 3-0
Group 2: Japan bt France 3-1; Germany bt England 3-0; Germany bt France 3-1; Japan bt England 3-0
