August 2017 Table Tennis news bites

Africa's star Table Tennis player, Aruna Quadri has appealed to the Nigerian government to provide a strong coach to help him perform at the Table Tennis world cup to be held at Liège, Belgium. Earlier, Nigeria's Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, had promised to support Quadri for the World Cup. Aruna was one of the stars of a previous World cup tournament.

Sun Yingsha aims to win the Grand slam of Table tennis. The Grand slam in Table tennis for Chinese players is the Olympic, World, World Cup, and National Games titles.

Ding Ning's idol is Zhang Yining, the Legend of Table Tennis and one of the all time greats.

London will host the The ITTF Team World Cup from 22 to 25 February, 2018. ITTF, the Table Tennis world governing body announced this recently. The tournament will be held at the Copper Box Arena at London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The tournament was held at Dubai in 2015.

The 2018 ITTF Team World Cup will be hosted in London on 22-25 February 2018. The world table tennis governing body ITTF's President Thomas Weikart recently announced this. Table Tennis England Chairman Sandra Deaton was overjoyed after hearing this announcement and expressed her excitement.

Liu Shiwen wins World Table Tennis Cup; equals record held by Zhang Yining and Wang Nan

Liu Shiwen won the World Women's Cup of Table Tennis at Sendai by beating Kasumi Ishikawa of the host nation in straight sets. By winning the title again, she equaled the record that is held by Wang Nan and Zhang Yining.

Shiwen beat Ishikawa in straight sets, in a match that saw Ishikawa overawed by the occasion of her first major final.

In one of the most sensational results at the quarter final stage, Petrissa Solja had beaten local superstar, Ai Fukuhara 4-3 coming back from the dead from 0-3 down, and deuce in the fourth.

World Cup Final (Women) Result:

Finals:
Liu Shiwen beat Kasumi Ishikawa 14-12, 11-2, 11-9, 11-2

Semi finals:
Liu Shiwen beat Petrissa Solja 11-8, 12-10, 11-3, 11-3

Kasumi Ishikawa beat Li Jiao 6-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 15-13, 11-5

Photo courtesy of the ITTF.

Now Zhang Jike wants to learn English!

We all know that the all time great Table Tennis player Zhang Yining enrolled for English lessons in the United states last year. Now it's Zhang Jike's turn to learn the language. Is he inspired by Zhang Yining? Unlikely but possible. After all, he is one of the very few to have won the Grand Slam of Table Tennis, Zhang Yining is one of them. Liu Guoliang, Kong Linghui, Wang Nan are others who've done it.

Zhang Yining retires from Table Tennis to focus on Education

Zhang Yining, one of the all-time greats in Table Tennis, said that she quit Table Tennis to focus on her studies in the US. She will be pursuing a one-year course in Physical Education in the US.

According to her, the decision also gives the younger players an opportunity to show their mettle. Guo Yue, Guo Yan, Li Xiaoxia, Liu Shiwen, and Ding Ning are in the race to take her place.
The Chinese authorities are bound to be anxious, especially since the London Olympics are right around the corner. The immediate priority for the Chinese team is also the Rotterdam World Championships this year.

Zhang has an impressive tally of four Olympic gold medals, nine World Championships, and four World Cup wins.