Women's Singles Preliminary Round
Lengthy Matches Begin Thursday's Competition:
Table tennis spectators, including former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, were treated to many close matches in women's singles table tennis preliminaries this morning. LIU Wei came from behind after losing the first game 19:21 to Valentina PAPOVA (SVK) to loop and counter-drive her way to winning the next two games, 21:13 and 21:18 to win the match. Other hard-fought matches included a duel between Singapore's Jun Hong JING and KIM Hyang (PRK). JING emerged the eventual winner after a very exciting, lengthy match (19:21, 21:19, 22:20). After winning the first game of her match (21:18), Huberta VRIESEKOOP (NED) was defeated in the next two games, 14:21 and 15:21, by Lithuania's Ruta GARKAUSKAITE. Women's singles table tennis action continues at 11:20 Friday.
Nicole STRUSE (GER), who easily defeated Tamara BOROS (CRO), said after her match this morning: "I knew today's match would be difficult. I just had to concentrate and keep focused."
Top Players Have Easy Victories:
KONG Ling-Hui (CHN), the No. 1 table tennis player in the world, had no difficulty getting past Ahmed OSAMA (SUD) 2:0 in the men's singles preliminary round. Jean-Michel SAIVE (BEL) and Jan-Ove WALDNER (SWE) also easily got past their opponents, both winning 2:0. The men's singles action also was filled with lengthy matches. It took Korea's LEE Chul-Seung three games to defeat determined opponent Ilija LUPULESKU (YUG). LUPULESKU won the first game 21:19, but LEE came back to win the next two games 21:17 and 18:21.
Although Jean-Philippe GATIEN had an easy win this morning, he said: "The important thing for me is to keep playing, no matter the level of the opponent. I played very well today."
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