Saturday, January 26, 2013

Zhang Jike beaten by Taku Takakiwa at the Austrian World Tour Table Tennis tournament

The World and Olympic Champion, Zhang Jike of China was sensationally beaten by the much lesser known Taku Takakiwa in the Quarterfinals at the Austrian Open at Wels. Takakiwa won 10-12, 11-9, 6-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-7, 13-11.

Zhang Jike seemed to be complacent even in the later stages of this match. You may recall that he already faced serious problems against Takakiwa's team-mate, Kenta Matsudaira, where it took him a decider to win. No doubt that Takakiwa took some useful notes from that match.

Watch the video of Zhang Jike vs Taku Takakiwa by TableTennisEvents here:


The Japanese player is a regular on the World Tour circut, but had nothing better than a semi-final showing in earlier World Tour or Pro Tour Table Tennis events. He employed a mix of unconventional blocks, loops, and aggression to win and reach the semi-finals, where he takes on another Chinese, Hao Shuai. Shuai has done very well this season internationally and also in the Chinese Table Tennis league. In the other semi-final, second seed Chuang Chih-Yuan plays Chinese young talent Fang Bo, who has been given an opportunity to prove his mettle on the international circuit.

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