Women's Table Tennis Singles
Top Players Win in Women's Singles Preliminaries:
The women's table tennis singles preliminaries offered spectators few surprises. DENG Yaping (CHN), 1992 Olympic women's singles gold medalist and 1995 world women's singles champion, defeated Nadunga KYAKOBYE (UGA) 21-4 and 2-8. 1994 European singles champion Marie SVENSSON (SWE) needed only 21 minutes and 46 seconds to defeat Great Britain's Lisa LOMAS, 21-16 and 21-10.
Blanca ALEJO (DOM) said she admires KOYAMA Chire (JAP) who defeated her in Wednesday's women's singles competition. "She's the best player I've ever played. Her strokes are quicker, the ball bounces faster."
Top Duos Win Preliminaries:
In a competition dominated by pairs from China, Korea and Hong Kong, the top teams came out ahead in the second day of women's table tennis doubles preliminaries. The Chinese duo of QIAO Hong and DENG Yaping, partners since 1989, easily defeated Barbara CHIU and Lijuan GENG of Canada 21-7 in the first game. They proved a more formidable challenge in the second game, however, as the Chinese team battled to a 23-21 victory.
"It definitely helps to have the Olympic Games in the United States. I feel everyone is behind me," -- Wei WANG (USA) after she and her partner Lily YIP lost to the Russian pair of Irina PALINA and Yelena TIMINA
Men's Doubles Preliminaries Excite Crowd:
Table tennis specators at the men's table tennis double preliminaries Wednesday got their money's worth as they witnessed the most exciting action of the day. Although the top pairs were victorious, many had to battle for every point earned. The Swedish pair of Jorgen PERSSON and Jan-Ove WALDNER battled the Japanese duo TASAKI Toshio and YUZAWA Ryo through three close games (21-17, 17-21, 21-19) before winning the match 2-1. Perhaps the most exciting action of the night came late in the second game between United States duo Jim BUTLER and Todd SWEERIS and Koreans LEE Chul-Seung and YOO Nam-Kyu. The Korean pair were leading 19-11 when a high-lob was hit causing BUTLER to jump the divider into another court. He continued the volley, filled with numerous high lobs, from the other court until the United States eventually won the point. The very next point continued in similar fashion, but this time YOO was forced into the adjoining court. The Chinese won that point and went on to win the match 2-0.
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| Pin trading was one of the most popular Olympic sports, with more than 1.2 million pins changing hands during the Games in the Coca Cola Pin Trading Center at Centennial Olympic Park. |