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Olympic hopefuls in table tennis tussle

 

Olympic hopefuls in table tennis tussle

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AOC
Olympic hopefuls in table tennis tussle

London 2012 Olympic qualification rests on the table at the Sydney Olympic Sports Centre for Australia, but the stalwarts of Australian women's table tennis have been delivered a shock awakening.

London 2012 Olympic qualification rests on the table at the Sydney Olympic Sports Centre. Table tennis athletes from Fiji, Vanuatu, New Zealand and Australia are battling it out at the Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament.

There are six players in the women’s singles event – Jian Fang Lay, Miao Miao, Vivien Tan, Peri Campbell-Innes (AUS), Li Chunli (NZL) and Anolyn Lulu (VAN). The athletes all play each other in stage one, with the player who finishes in first place qualifying directly for the women’s singles event at the London Olympic Games.

Despite the strength of a four-woman Australian contingent, the results on day one did not go Australia’s way. New Zealand’s sole female representative Li Chunli, who was born in China in 1962, is a fortified contender at the ripe age of fifty. Chunli retired after winning women’s singles gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and coached for ten years before returning to vie for Olympic selection in 2012.

On day one Chunli was victorious in a tough battle with Australia’s triple Olympian Miao Miao (5-11, 11-9, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8) and Australia’s Peri Campbell-Innes (11-5, 11-6, 11-5, 9-11, 11-4). She also beat Vanuatu’s Lulu who failed to win a match, making her the only unbeaten player in the women’s draw.

Meanwhile, the Australian women wreaked havoc on one-another. Stalwart of Australian table tennis Jian Fang Lay, who has competed at every Games since Sydney 2000, beat Miao (13-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-7) but was toppled by her compatriot Vivian Tan (11-8, 11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 4-11, 12-10).

Tan herself suffered defeat to Campbell-Innes in a seven-game thriller (11-2, 8-11, 14-12, 12-10, 5-11, 13-15, 12-10). Lay, Tan and Campbell-Innes all sit on two wins and one loss, but the three defeats served up to Miao, the two-time Oceania champion, was unexpected.

Chunli is poised to wrap up the stage one win and automatic qualification tonight, with the remaining five players entering a knockout in stage two on Wednsesday. The winner there earns qualification and a third place is determined in stage three where the four players contest a second knockout event.

The men's draw delivered positive news for Australia, with William Henzell and Justin Han, the top two seeds, flexing their muscles with three wins each on day one of competition.

Taya Conomos, AOC with ITTF

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