Hong Kong’s Wong and Doo end mixed doubles drought, win Doha table tennis crown

Hong Kong’s Wong Chun-ting and Doo Hoi-kem finally ended their mixed doubles title drought at the WTT Star Contender Doha event on Sunday.

The pair have one of the sport’s longest running partnerships, combining forces for the first time well over a decade ago, and that vast experience made the difference in a 3-1 win over South Korean pair Park Gang-hyeon and Kim Na-yeong.

There was more success for Macau’s Zhu Yuling too, who grabbed her second successive women’s individual gold in Qatar, after winning the WTT Champions event there earlier this month.

And in an all-Chinese match-up in the men’s singles final, Zhou Qihao got the better of 19-year-old Wen Ruibo, who beat second seed Hugo Calderano of Brazil in the semi-finals.

Wong and Doo struggled early, but recovered in game two and punished Park and Kim for their failure to take advantage of being 9-7 up in the third. Wong and Doo eventually won 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-5.

“We played relatively smoothly in the mixed doubles this time, but honestly, every match was tough,” Wong said. “We lost the first game in the final because we were a bit too anxious at the start. Only when we settled down later did I feel confident that we could pull through.”