Chinese Table Tennis team trials for Paris World Championships

The final leg of the Chinese team trials are starting. The favorites to qualify are Zhang Jike, Ma Long, and Xu Xin. But Jike suffered an injury recently.

The other experienced players in the fray are Ma Lin, Chen Qi, and Wang Hao.

The youngsters who will challenge experience are Yan An and Fan Zhendong.

Chen Qi wins English Open Pro Tour

Chen executes his trademark backhand service receive

Finally, Chen Qi stepped out of the shadows of his illustrious team mates. He beat 2nd seed Ma Lin 11-5, 11-4, 11-13, 14-12, 11-4 in the finals of the English Open Pro Tour Table Tennis tournament.

Earlier, in the semi-finals, he beat the formidable Wang Liqin.

China is fielding most of its top players right from the start of the season at all the Pro tour tournaments starting from the Slovenian open. The top players again assemble for the other tournaments that follow soon. The aim seems to be to get them in shape for the World Individual championships at Rotterdam.

Ma Lin to clash with Chen Qi in the English Open Pro Tour

Ma Lin beat compratriot, Wang Hao in seven games to book a place in the finals against the younger southpaw Chen Qi at the English Open Pro Tour event at Sheffield.

Qi beat the experienced Wang Liqin 4-3 in a cliff hanger in which the decider went down to the wire. Qi eventually prevailed 12-10 in the seventh game.

English Open ITTF Pro Tour starts tomorrow

The Pro tour tournament at Sheffield starts tomorrow. Five of the top Ten players in the World are participating.

Here's a list of the top players:

Sl No. Name     Country  Sex   Rank

1	WANG Hao   CHN	M	3
2	ZHANG Jike   CHN	M	4
3	MA Lin   CHN	M	5
4	WANG Liqin   CHN	M	7
5	XU Xin   CHN	M	9
6	OH Sang Eun   KOR	M	13
7	CHEN Qi   CHN	M	14
8	RYU Seung Min   KOR	M	16
9	GAO Ning   SIN	M	24
10	CHEN Weixing   AUT	M	25