May 8, 2008

Underdogs only with Small Glimmers of Hope

Canada's Shen Qiang plays different than most of the European players. Photo By: Istvan Polonyi

Courtesy of ITTF The first matches of the Final World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Budapest brought no big surprises. All top-seeded male players overcame their opponents without big problems. An inspiring performance, however, showed seventeen year old Shen Qiang against Romania's Constantin Cioti. The young Canadian also had an explanation why he was so competitive against the favorite. "It's probably my style of playing", he said grinning about his technique, "but that's the way I play".

Gerell Wins the Northern Duel
Another close match was between Sweden's Pär Gerell and Denmark's shooting star Kasper Sternberg.

The Swede was glad to have won the match in six games. "We know each other from training camps", Gerell explained the special situation in the northern European Duel. "I knew from the beginning it would be tough because Kasper is much better than his world ranking."

Overmeyer and Didukh Play Seven Games
The most spectacular match so far was between Aleksandr Didukh from Ukraine and Shane Overmeyer.

The South African probably played the match of his life but was out of luck in the seventh game. Nevertheless, with such performances Overmeyer should be able to compete for one of the first two places in his group.