China's Zhang storms into Olympic table tennis final
22/8/2008 17:47
China's defending gold medalist Zhang Yining stormed into the final of the
Olympic women's singles table tennis competition in Beijing today, beating
Singapore's Li Jia Wei.
Zhang won 9-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-8 and 11-5. The
victory secured a singles gold for China as the world number one will play the
winner of the other semifinal match, an all-Chinese affair between world
champion Guo Yue and Grand Slam veteran Wang Nan.
"I think Li fought really
hard today. She has participated in three Olympic Games, so she is actually more
experienced than me in international competitions," said Zhang.
"But I knew I
would win once I got over the first game," she said. "The final won't be easy
because teammates know each other very well."
Li said that "I played very
well today and it's an achievement for me to finish in the top four while the
other three are all Chinese players."
Both Zhang and Li were born in Beijing
in 1981. They attended the same school in the Chinese capital between
1986-96.
But Li went to Singapore in 1996 under Singapore Table Tennis
Association's foreign recruitment scheme, and gained Singaporean citizenship in
1999.
Xinhua
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