Ma Long beats Fang Bo to win the World Table Tennis Championship title

Ma Long is the World Champion. Incidentally, he is also the World No. 1.

After three failed attempts in 2009, 2011, 2013, Ma Long finally made it.
He beat the surprise finalist Fang Bo 4-2 (who had upset Grand Slam champion Zhang Jike).

Earlier in the Championship, Ding Ning won the Women's final.

Photos courtesy of the ITTF and Rajeev Sharma.

Fang Bo upsets all to win Austrian Open World Tour Table Tennis title

Photo: Fang Bo courtesy of the ITTF

Fang Bo threw the World rankings into the bin and beat much more famous names to wrest the Austrian Open Table Tennis title at Wels, Austria.

In the finals, he beat Hao Shuai 11-8, 9-11, 2-11, 11-6, 11-8, and 11-8.

Fang made his intentions clear when he won the first set and made a good start in the contest, eventually winning it 11-8. The highlight of this game was Fang Bo's return of service - backhand open with topspin even from the right hand corner. Hao Shuai retaliated by winning the second 11-9, thus tying the match at 1-1. Shuai seemed to nail home the point that he is the more experienced by hammering the youngster 11-2. However, the determined Fang Bo, who has created waves in the last 2-3 years, did not give up, he won the next set 11-6 and tied the match 2-2, thus promising exciting fare in the games to come.

Shuai battled and tried to make a mark in the fifth game, but by now Fang Bo had not only overcome nerves in such an important final as the World Tour Table Tennis tournament, but he also found a consistent rhythm. Fang won it 11-8. Just when it appeared that Hao Shuai will make a mighty attempt to tie the match at 3-3, Fang played with maturity to end the match at 4-2 and not let it slip into a decider, where experience would have been a factor.

Incidentally, Hao Shuai, who is one of the main players in the second rung Chinese line-up, beat giant killer Taku Takakiwa effortlessly, 4-0. Takakiwa had beaten World and Olympic Champion Zhang Jike in the previous round.

Fang Bo had beaten seasoned Chuang Chih-Yuan in five sets for a facile victory in the semi-finals   12-10,11-6,11-13,11-3,11-5. Fang lost just one set, that too in a deuce game against the top 10 ranked Chuang.

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.

Editor