Olympic Media Notes, 23 July 2021
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OLYMPIC MEDIA NOTES, 23RD JULY 2021 Draw Mixed Doubles Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen (no.1 seeds) are drawn in the same half as Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem (no.4 seeds); Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem are the only pair to beat Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen in an international tournament. They succeeded in the final at the ITTF World Tour 2019 Korea Open. Amongst the top eight seeds, Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem form the only pair where both players are right handers, all others are right and left-handed. Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen (no.1 seeds) appear in the same quarter of the draw as Ovidiu Ionescu and Bernadette Szocs (no.9 seeds). They met on the 2019 ITTF World Tour in Sweden; Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen prevailed. Lin Yun-Ju and Cheng I-Ching (no.3 seeds) are in the same quarter as Omar Assar and Dina Meshref (no.14 seeds). They met in the quarter-finals at the 2021 WTT Contender tournament in Doha; Lin Yun-Ju and Cheng I-Ching emerged the winners. Also in the same quarter of the draw is the pairing of Lee Sangsu and Jeon Jihee (no.6 seeds). They lost to Lin Yun-Ju and Cheng I-Ching in the final at the 2021 WTT Star Contender tournament in Doha. Liu Shiwen played only in the women’s team event on her debut in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. She maintained a perfect record. Men’s Singles Korea Republic have spawned two Olympic Games men’s singles gold medallists, Yoo Namkyu (1988 Seoul) and Ryu Seungmin (2004 Athens) but never a men’s singles world champion. At the quarter-final stage Fan Zhendong (no.1 seed) could meet Timo Boll (no.8 seed); to date at international level, Fan Zhendong has won all nine encounters. Lin Yun-Ju (no.5 seed) and Tomokazu Harimoto (no.3 seed) could well meet in the last eight. At the semi-final stage at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games, they met, the verdict went in favour of Tomokazu Harimoto. In the same part of the draw as Tomokazu Harimoto is Liam Pitchford (no.11 seed). Liam Pitchford has won three of their four meetings, including the most recent, the 2019 Team World Cup in Tokyo! Repeat contests at the quarter-final stage; the men’s singles final at the Liebherr 2019 World Championships could be re-enacted, Ma Long, the no.2 seed, is due to meet Mattias Falck. Dating back to Beijing in 2008, in every Olympic Games, Dimitrij Ovtcharov (no.7 seed) has won a medal, including men’s singles bronze in 2012 in London. Potentially at the quarter-final stage he confronts Hugo Calderano (no.4 seed). Dimitrij Ovtcharov may be the lower ranked player but on both international encounters – ITTF World Tour 2014 Doha, 2019 Olomouc – he prevailed. Page 1 Women’s Singles Both Deng Yaping and Zhang Yining, on their two appearances in the Olympic Games never lost a women’s singles or women’s doubles match, perfection. Chen Meng (no.1 seed) and Sun Yingsha (no.2 seed) now start the quest to emulate the players regarded universally as the best female players of all time. At the quarter-final stage, the potential opponent for Chen Meng is Hong Kong’s Doo Hoi Kem (no.8 seed); for Sun Yingsha it is Feng Tianwei (no.6 seed), women’s singles bronze medallist in 2012 in London. Three meetings on the international scene in both instances, three wins for Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha. Mima Ito (no.3 seed) and Kasumi Ishikawa (no.5 seed) will be very much the focus of attention. At the quarter-final stage, Mima Ito is scheduled to meet Jeon Jihee, for Kasumi Ishikawa it could well be Cheng I-Ching (no.4 seed). Mima Ito has won all four meetings in world ranking events against Jeon Jihee; for Kasumi Ishikawa, the scenario is very different. Overall, in international competition, Cheng I-Ching and Kasumi Ishikawa have met no less than 21 times. The balance is with Kasumi Ishikawa, she has won 12 of the contests but most pertinently she has lost the most recent two duels. In 2018 at the Uncle Pop Women’s World Cup in Chengdu the verdict went to Cheng I-Ching as it did at the ITTF World Tour 2020 Hungarian Open. Page 2 .