Sharath Kamal off to a good start at World Cup Table Tennis 2013

Sharath Kamal is in elite company at the World Cup in Belgium. His competitors include the likes of Xu Xin, Timo Boll, Ovtcharov, Samsonov, among a host of others.

In a Stage 1 match, Sharath snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Australian legend William Henzell 12-14, 10-12, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-3, 12-10. Henzell was the youngest inductee into Australia's Hall of Fame at age 26, at that time, 20 years younger than any other inductee.

Sharath now plays Hong Kong's Tang Peng in a crucial match that will most likely decides who advances to the Stage 2, that has the World's top players waiting. It is worth noting that Sharath Kamal is the first Indian to qualify for this elite championships whose past winners include Waldner, Persson, Kong Linghui, Liu Guoliang, Vladimir Samsonov, Ma Lin, Wang Hao (王皓), Timo Boll and Zhang Jike.

Editor
www.TableTennisBug.com

Henzell and Miao Miao crowned Oceania Cup champions

(Photos courtesy of the ITTF)

William Henzell and Miao Miao beat David Powell and Li Chunli respectively to win the Oceania Cup at Bendigo Australia. This was Henzell's third consecutive victory.

While Henzell beat Powell fairly easily, Miao Miao had to battle back from 1-3 down against the experienced Chunli. The win for Miao Miao also meant that she earned a ticket to the Women's World Cup to be held at Kobe, Japan in September. Similarly, Henzell gets to compete at the Men's World Cup at Verviers, Belgium in October.

Results:

Men's singles finals:

William Henzell bt David Powell 15-13, 11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 11-1

Women's singles finals:

Miao Miao bt Li Chunli  5-11, 11-13, 11-9, 10-12, 11-7, 13-11 11-9

Seedings Australian Open Table Tennis Tournament

Men's Singles Seedings

1 Jin Kwon LEE (KOR)
2 William HENZELL (SA)
3 Dong Hoon KANG (KOR)
4 Justin HAN (NSW)
5 Wan Jin CHOI (KOR)
6 Seung Eyeok LEE (KOR)
7 Robert FRANK (VIC)
8 Bruno LEVIS SOTO (QLD)

Women's Singles Seedings
1 Jian Fang LAY (VIC)
2 Min Hee KIM (KOR)
3 Ziyu (Sally) ZHANG (NSW)
4 Hyun Ju LEE (KOR)
5 Miao MIAO (VIC)
6 Ji Na HWANG (KOR)
7 Vivian TAN (NSW)
8 Claire CAMPBELL-INNES (QLD)

U-21 Men's Seedings
1 Seung Eyeok LEE (KOR)
2 David POWELL (VIC)
3 Kane TOWNSEND (QLD)
4 Heming HU (VIC)
5 Dillon CATHCART (VIC)
6 Zhiyang CHENG (NZ)
7 Erny TSAO (NSW)
8 David FIELDING (QLD)

U-21 Women's Seedings
1 Min Hee KIM (KOR)
2 Hyun Ju LEE (KOR)
3 Ji Na HWANG (KOR)
4 Anna DU (VIC)

Sharath in Henzell's road to the Olympic video series

William Henzell features in a series of videos that he is preparing on his preparation for the London Olympics 2012. In this particular episode, he talks about his competition in Austria and his performance in the Swedish Pro Tour and others.

Henzell is in very good physical condition since he's been focusing heavily on Table Tennis in the Schlager Table Tennis Academy in Vienna Austria. Unfortunately, he was beaten quite easily by India's Sharath Kamal. You can see the short clip mid way in the video.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fUsw9FQn_o

But still, Henzell beat some very good players and qualified to the main draw, which is quite an achievement. Incidentally, Sharath lost to Ma Long, who was in top form in that tournament.