On the evening of 9 February, the final match of the WTT Singapore Grand Slam – Men’s Singles final came to an end, 19-year-old Chinese table tennis team player Lin Shidong achieved a reversal of 0-1 down, and finally beat teammate Liang Jingkun 4-2, following the Mixed Doubles (partner Kuai Man), Men’s Doubles (partner Wang Chuqin) topped the world once again to become the ‘Triple Crown King’ of this tournament, while collecting 2,000 points to be sure to surpass Wang Chuqin to rank first in the men’s singles for the first time. The ‘Triple Crown Champion’ of this tournament, meanwhile reaping 2,000 points, will surpass Wang Chuqin and be ranked No.1 in the world for the first time in the men’s singles, which is really something to behold! Please see below for more details.
Match Points
Lin Sidong was born in 2005 and is currently ranked World No. 2, while Liang Jingkun was born in 1996 and is currently ranked World No. 4. Although the former is young, he was already in the Chinese table tennis team’s starting line-up last year, and has taken on many important roles. His ranking and position in the team has already surpassed that of his two World Champion brothers, Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan, and he has the potential to make an impact at the Los Angeles Olympics, both in terms of his ability and age.
Liang Jingkun’s form in this tournament is not stable, the second round is 0-2 down 3-2 reversal of Germany’s Ovtcharov, semi-final after 7 games, save match point 4-3 down the world’s top-ranked Wang Chuqin, followed by the final of the world’s second-ranked Lin Shidong, which is last year’s final defeat (defeated Wang Chuqin) to win the runner-up to the him is a new test.
Sanweisport-Professional Table Tennis Equipment Provider
Only 11.9 USD
- Taiji 210 bat is an allround premade high quality table tennis bat for the starters, it’s the best seller and the most popular bat of the Taiji Bat series.
- The blade is made by 7 layers of decent pure wood, coated by two sides of ITTF approved rubber makes it useable for competition, with a comfortable flared handle.
- It saves your time for selecting from thousands of combinations and just gives you the right one with great quality/price ratio.
- 2-Stars Table Tennis Bat is perfect for amateur gamers !
[Match Proceedings
At the start of the match, the two athletes with superb backhands soon started a fierce confrontation on the left half-table, while not forgetting to mobilise their forehands to impact the opponent’s defence. The battle soon reached a stalemate, with the scores rising to 9-all, before Liang Jingkun made use of his own serve to score consecutive points, and ultimately came out on top with a narrow 11-9 win.
In the second set, Liang Jing Kun continued to break through Lin Sidong’s forehand by controlling it from within the table, but his opponent had obvious defences in place and continued to play to his backhand’s strengths whilst trying to keep his forehand out of position, eventually taking the set 11-8, leaving the two sides tied at 1-1, a very close match indeed.
In the third set, the two sides engaged in a very high quality forehand middle and long draw. Liang Jingkun scored the first point and then continued to force his opponent into errors through the spin changes in the first three boards, but was soon levelled and reversed by the youngster, and Lin Shidong seized the opportunity to keep the advantage by attacking continuously, and then once again took the lead with an 11-8 win to overtake the big score.
In the fourth set, Liang Jingkun was the first to score 2 points, but Lin Sidong soon levelled the score with a very high quality attack, but then made a mistake in the connecting shots and was once again pulled back by his opponent. Liang Jingkun then missed a set point, but eventually took it 11-6 to bring the two sides back to the same starting line again.
In the fifth set, Liang Jingkun’s form dropped off, failing to contain Lin Shidong’s attacks and failing to gain an advantage with his serve. As a result, he lost 7 points in a row and was caught in a passive state, shaking his head on the court. On the contrary, Lin Shidong’s form was very stable and he ended up taking the next set with ease at 11-3, thus forcing his teammate into a desperate situation.
In the sixth game, Liang Jingkun was still unable to find much of a way to fight back, dropping three points in a row in the opening game and calling for a timeout to make adjustments, before Lin continued to lead until the end of the game, eventually sealing the victory with an 11-2 win, thus winning his third title of the tournament, and confirming that he will become the latest men’s singles world No. 1 in the world, a double blessing.
