Liu Shiwen Retains Title, Ding Ning Once Again the Runner Up

The defending champion, LIU Shiwen won the Women's Singles title at the $1,000,000 GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, on the evening of Saturday 8th December.

In a repeat of the final staged in London one year earlier, LIU Shiwen repeated the success of one year earlier.

Once again she beat compatriot DING Ning (9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-1, 11-7, 11-7) in the final and thus departed $104,000 the richer and the owner of a GAC Trumpchi GS5 SUV car; for DING Ning, she collected $52,000 and a GAC Gonow GX5 SUV car.

At the semi-final stage both had won cliff-hanging duels. DING Ning beat compatriot, CHEN Meng in seven games (15-17, 11-3, 11-8, 11-3, 12-14, 5-11, 11-9), before Liu Shiwen eventually overcame Singapore's FENG Tianwei by a similar minimal margin in the deciding game (11-6, 11-2, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 10-12, 11-9).

Success for LIU Shiwen in the Women's Singles event, in the Men's Doubles competition, the top prize of $50,000 went to GAO Ning and LI Hu, with the runners up Seiya KISHIKAWA and Koki NIWA collecting $25,000.

In the final the Singaporeans hit top gear to record a straight games victory (11-5, 11-2, 11-6, 11-8).

At the semi-final stage both pairs had beaten Korean adversaries. GAO Ning and LI Hu overcame KIM Donghyun and LEE Jung Woo (13-11,5-11,9-11,11-6,11-7,11-9), after Seiya KISHIKAWA and Koki NIWA had accounted for OH Sangeun and RYU Seungmin (12-10, 11-9, 11-5, 6-11, 4-11, 3-11, 11-6).

Success for China in the Women's Singles event and it was success for China in the counterpart Men's Singles event.

Three players from the host nation entered the quarter-final arena, three booked semi-final places.

XU Xin and MA Lin caused Korea more heartaches; XU Xin overcame JOO Saehyuk (11-8, 12-10, 11-8, 13-11), whilst MA Lin defeated RYU Seungmin (11-2, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6, 12-10) in the battle of the Olympic champions. RYU Seungmin won gold in the Men's Singles event in Athens in 2004, MA Lin followed suit four years later in Beijing.

Not to be outdone by his colleagues, WANG Hao beat Singapore's ZHAN Jian (10-12, 11-9, 11-4, 11-8, 14-12) to reserve his place in the penultimate round.

The one non-Chinese Men's Singles semi-final representative is Chinese Taipei's CHUANG Chih-Yuan who performed the recovery of the day; he trailed GAO Ning, also from Singapore, by three games to nil, before recovering to secure a seven games victory (7-11, 10-12, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7, 12-10, 11-8).

At the semi-final stage, XU Xin meets MA Lin; CHUANG Chih-Yuan confronts WANG Hao.

Defeats for Singapore but at the quarter-final stage of the Women's Doubles event there was success for the south east Asian country.

FENG Tianwei and YU Mengyu, the pair who only gained a place in the event following the last minute withdrawal of Romania's Daniela DODEAN and Elizabeta SAMARA, ousted the Japanese top seeded partnership of Hiroko FUJII and Misako WAKAMIYA (2-11, 12-10, 12-10, 8-11, 12-10, 11-9).

At the semi-final stage they meet Hong Kong's JIANG Huajun and LEE Ho Ching, the quarter-final winners over the German partnership of Kristin SILBEREISEN and WU Jiaduo (12-10, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9).

Meanwhile, in the opposite half of the draw Chinese Taipei's CHENG I-Ching and HUANG Yi-Hua confront Korea's LEE Eunhee and PARK Youngsook.

In the quarter-finals CHENG I-Ching and HAN Yi-Hua accounted for Korea's DANG Yeseo and SEOK Hajung (13-11, 13-11, 10-12, 12-14, 12-10, 11-5), whilst LEE Eunhee and PARK Youngsook beat colleagues KIM Kyungah and PARK Miyoung (11-3, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-3).

More information can be found on the ITTF event webpage, and matches are on www.ittf.com/ittv.

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