By Henry Chen
To be held in Philadelphia, USA, the 2016 Seamaster Women’s World Cup is already set next week for Friday 7th October. A week before the competition, the playing lineup was revised.
The Rio 2016 Olympic Games Women’s Singles title holder Ding Ning has decided to withdraw from the tournament. Injury and fatigue are the reasons cited for such decision.
Ding Ning participated in the Women’s World Cup twice and has won both occasions. In 2011 and in 2014, she defeated compatriot Li Xiaoxia for the title.
Liu Shiwen, because of the recent developments, will be going solo in representing the Chinese Team in the competition.
Completing the playing line-up is the German Petrissa Solja who ranks in 16th place in the latest world rankings.
Solja debuted in the Women’s World Cup in year 2014 in Linz, Austria. It was not a very victorious competition for her as she was eliminated in the first round by the Chinese delegate Li Xiaoxia.
The German player was invited for the second time a year after in Sendai, Japan. This time around, Petrissa Solja was in a very good playing condition. She earned a relatively favourable place in the main draw after finishing first in the group stage of the competition.
She stunned everyone in the opening round giving the Singaporean Feng Tianwei a sweeping upset. One round after, she overcame the Japanese star Ai Fukuhara in a full-distance battle.
After posting two incredible victories, Solja was up against a much stronger opponent. She faced Liu Shiwen in the semi-final round and was swept in 0-4. Such defeat didn’t discourage the brave Solja. She ensured that she will end up in the medal podium in that competition.
She defeated Li Jiao of Netherlands for the bronze in 4-2. Petrissa Solja became the fourth European player to have achieved such feat in the women’s table tennis.
Petrissa Solja will be on her third appearance in the Women’s World Cup next weekend. Since her first appearance in the competition, Solja was getting better. So can we expect a much better performance from her this year?