China's teenage paddler Guo Yue managed to hold her nerves here on
Thursday to rally past veteran Tie Yana of Hong Kong, China 4-3, for the fifth
Asian Games title in Doha for the formidable Chinese table tennis team.
It's the 18-year-old's first victory in major tournament and the 47th table
tennis gold for China since they made their first appearance in the Asian Games
in 1974.
China lost the only gold of the women's singles in 1994 when former Chinese
national He Zhili represented Japan to beat Deng Yaping.
Guo won 11-3, 10-12, 11-4, 11-13, 11-9, 8-11, 11-2 over the 29-year-old Tie,
who finished on the bronze medalists' podium together with Guo at the Asian
Championships 2003 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Guo opened the seventh set in style, taking the upper hand 6-1, after Tie
forced the decider with an excellent sixth set performance.
Hong Kong coach Li Huifen called a time out while Tie trailed 1-4, but Tie
was still shriveled against Guo's fierce assault and seized just one point as
Guo launched a 7-1 run to win the final.
Tie had defeated Japan's top paddler Ai Fukuhara 4-3 in the quarters and won
an upset semifinal against world No. 3 Wang Nan in full sets in the semis to set
up the final encounter with Guo.
