Qualifier Orawan Paranang has pulled off the biggest win of her career, beating World No.1 Sun Yingsha at China Smash table tennis championships, sending shockwaves through the world of table tennis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thailand\u2019s Orawan had faced Yingsha, who holds 19 WTT Series titles, three times in her career before today, and lost all of them, only managing to take one game in all of those matches.\u00a0But his time she pulled off a 8-11, 11-4, 12-10, 12-10 victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heading into this one, World No.101 Orawan would undoubtedly not have expected this victory, and the win is not just historic for herself, but also a significant milestone for Thailand, as she becomes only the second player from her country to reach the last 16 of a WTT Grand Smash.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Of course, happy \u2026 I can\u2019t believe I can do it, I can beat No.1 in the world. Of course I feel happy, very happy,” said Orawan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It looked like business as usual for Sun, who returned to the WTT Series for the first time since lifting the Women\u2019s Singles title at United States Smash 2026 this week in Beijing, as she took game one.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But eyebrows were raised in Game Two, when Orawan stormed to a 5-0 lead and then levelled the match with another four straight points.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s not unusual for the greatest players to drop a game, and more often than not it\u2019s just a blip, but Orawan continued to pile the pressure on Yingsha, who before today had only lost one match on the WTT Series this season, setting up two game points in the third.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yingsha turned up the heat in Game Four, and she was setting up her freakish forehand shots to go up 2-8, but Orawan was like an annoying itch that refused to go away, closing the gap to 8-9, triggering the six-time WTT Grand Smash champion to call a Time Out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I just focus on my plan because I play against her many, many times … I didn\u2019t look at how many points she was up, I just focused point by point, I just play, try to put the ball on the table \u2026 only that,” added Orawan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Things got even better for Orawan, as the qualifier saved Game Point and then became the first non-Chinese player to beat Yingsha in almost exactly two years, stunning Infinity \u221e Arena into an eerie silence.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Qualifier Zhu Sibing is into the Round of 16, beating World No.52 Chien Tung-Chuan over five games 7-11, 11-5, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8, while there were also wins for No.8 seed Sabine Winter and No.4 seed Kuai Man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 26-year-old, who got her place in the qualifying rounds as a wildcard, navigated her first three matches without dropping a game to make the main draw, where she beat No.13 seed Joo Cheonhui to set up a tie against Tung-Chuan.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the second time in the main draw, Sibing had to recover from going a game down and, for the first time here in Beijing, was forced all the way to five games. The decider was neck and neck, with nothing separating the two after 16 points, but Sibing found the formula, hitting three winners to claim victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sibing is competing at her second WTT Grand Smash and at last year\u2019s event, she made the Round of 32, where she lost to World No.1 Yingsha. Her win against Tung-Chuan has earned her a tie against compatriot Man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of Man, she made it through her all-China match against qualifier Zong Geman winning 11-6, 7-11, 11-4, 11-4. Man is yet to win a WTT Grand Smash, but has come close on two occasions, making the final of both Singapore Smash 2025 and United States Smash 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the most highly anticipated matches of the day saw two of Europe\u2019s best players lock horns, as Winter took down Bernadette Szocs 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-9 for a place in the Round of 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These two are familiar foes, with, until recently, Winter boasting a 100% record over Szocs on the WTT Series. However, that all changed at WTT Champions Macao 2026, when Szocs beat the German 3-1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Winter will undoubtedly be delighted with her win, having failed to progress past the Round of 32 at her last two WTT Grand Smash events, although she did reach the semifinals at Singapore Smash 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chinese Taipei\u2019s rising star Kuo Guan-Hong has claimed another scalp in his fledgling career, beating China\u2019s Liang Jingkun 11-7, 11-2, 6-11, 12-10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two-time WTT Grand Smash finalist Jingkun has enjoyed a strong 2026, previously being as high as World No.16 and coming back from two games down against Alexis Lebrun and Tomokazu Harimoto to help China secure gold at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships London.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guan-Hong, however, made his senior debut in 2025 and has quickly risen to World No.39, beating Benedikt Duda at Europe Smash – Sweden 2026 and Lin Yun-Ju at United States Smash 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 17-year-old Guan-Hong hit five winners in a row to build a commanding lead in the first, then blew the former World No. 2 away in game two. While Jingkun was able to get a game back, the mountain proved to be too big to climb, and Guan-Hong will now face Sora Matsushima in his first-ever Round of 16 match at a WTT Grand Smash.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over in Infinity \u221e Arena, Tomokazu Harimoto survived a scare when he saw his two-game lead over Park Ganghyeon crumble before his eyes to clinch a 11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 5-11, 12-10 win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This match was pure cinema, with Guan-Hong saving four game points as he fought tooth and nail to avoid going two games down. He couldn\u2019t quite get over the line, and staring down the barrel of defeat, he unleashed in game three, reducing the deficit to one.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ganghyeon needed another perfect game, and he got just that, hitting six in a row to lead 1-7, putting in the most dominant performance of the match to force the first decider of the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Game five was a rollercoaster, with Harimoto going up 5-2 before another Ganghyeon comeback triggered cheers from the fans inside the arena. With the crowd against him and facing two match points, it looked like the end of the road for the World No.4, but the Japanese star locked in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harimoto saved both match points, then won the two vital points he needed, cupped his ear, and pointed to the fans as he celebrated the victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Qualifier Orawan Paranang has pulled off the biggest win of her career, beating World No.1 Sun Yingsha at<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-16413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-table-tennis"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t