Chinese table tennis duo Wang Hao and Ma Long, who had never paired up
before coming to Doha for the Asian Games, were pulled into full sets by their
Chinese Taipei opponents here on Monday evening before rallying to earn a berth
in the men's doubles quarterfinals.
"We've not tuned up with each other, and it's hard for us to face the true
challengers here for the first time," said Wang Hao, who earlier partnered with
Ma in the morning session to beat the hosts Qatar's Ahmed Ahmed and Mohammed Al
Saadi 3-0.
In a match of Round of 16, Wang and Ma opened with one set down but they
managed to hold their nerves to edge out Chang Yen Shu and Wu Chih Chi of
Chinese Taipei 9-11, 11-5, 11-7, 10-12,11-7.
"The close-door training camp helped us a lot play as a pair, but it felt
quite different to play on court," said Wang, who was crowned the men's doubles
champion with Kong Linghui last year at the Shanghai world championships.
Teenage paddler Ma Long took a over strung match to blame as he and his
partner committed too many unforced errors.
"I could not hold my nerve in the beginning, and wasted a lot chances in some
key shots," he said.
"We should have made it easily if we were more confident," said the
18-year-old Ma.
In the other Chinese match, Olympic gold medal winning duo Chen Qi and Ma Lin
took just seven minutes to knock out Mohammed Al Hashedi and Wael Al Qershi from
Yemen, 11-5, 11-5, 11-3.
