|
Home>News Center>Sports | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Pingpong: Olympic champions lose to fans
An unusual ping pong match pitting Chinese fans against world professional stars was held Wednesday in southern China's Changsha city. Olympic and world champions suffered routs.
The fans' team was led by former Chinese national team coach Zhang Xielin, while the stars side was made up of ten big names, including Olympic champion Korean Rye Seung-min and world champion Werner Schlager. Special rules were obeyed to favor the fans' side and the professionals had to concede points from the start. In the singles matches, Schlager was up first on the stars' team, facing Yuan Wen, a 15-year-old Chinese girl. The teenager took the lead as the game began, and the world champion conceded 9-0. The Austrian was merciful to the lovely girl, and the 15-year-old won the opening match 2 love. "I am very lucky to have the opportunity to play a world champion. Regardless of the result, playing this game will help me improve at the sport." Swedish veteran Jan-Ove Waldner and Olympic champion Rye Seung-min also failed to break through and only Belarus' Vladimir Samsonov and Tim Boll from Germany clinched wins for their side. In a later game, national team players gave their supporters a big surprise with a five nothing defeat. None of Chinese idols like Kong Linghui, Ma Lin or Wang Liqin, would seize a victory over their loyal supporters. The result certainly entertained the spectators. "This is a very exciting game for me. My dreams of playing a famous player have finally come true, although it's only an informal match." |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
