Wang regains world table tennis top spot in Macau, tells China fans ‘don’t count us out’
Wang Chuqin beats Hugo Calderano for men’s title in WTT event, while Sun Yingsha has supporters cheering as she downs Wang Manyu
Wang Chuqin regained his status as the best paddler in the world on Sunday, after an emphatic 4-0 win over Brazil’s Hugo Calderano in the final of the WTT Champions in Macau.
In the women’s final, world No 1 Sun Yingsha came out on top 4-3 in a fiercely close battle with compatriot Wang Manyu, herself ranked second, to pick up her fifth WTT title of the year.
Wang Chuqin’s win at the East Asian Games Dome means he will leapfrog Lin Shidong to become the world No 1 when the rankings update on Monday.
“I’m really happy that I was able to beat Hugo; as he has said before, we have had a lot of great battles together,” Wang said. “This time, facing him, I had to be really focused. I put 100 per cent of my focus into this match.
“Personally, with the recent comments on the current state of the team, I wanted to give everything I had to win this match. To prove to everyone – to all of you – that the table tennis team is still a team.”
China’s men’s table tennis team has come under scrutiny in recent months for a number of poor performances.