25 Nov 2016

A stunning performance on Wednesday 23rd November in round 11 of the Chinese Women's Super League saw Beijing beat Sichuan by three matches to nil; there was no stopping Sheng Dandan, Li Jiayuan and Sun Chen; it was a performance that impressed all concerned especially Yan Yongguo, the coach and Ding Ning, the reigning Olympic and World champion, who was rested for the contest.

Sheng Dandan beat Zhou Yihan (11-9, 11-4, 11-9), before Li Jiayuan accounted for Guo Yan (11-8, 11-5, 11-9) and a doubles success with Li Jiayuan in partnership with Sun Chen bringing matters to a close. They accounted for Yang Huijing and Zhou Yihan (11-9, 11-9).

by Henry Chen

“The battle seems easy, looking at the overall result. However, it is relatively tight. We just play every round, every match, every game.”  Sheng Dandan said.

Perhaps but notably every match in the fixture ended in a straight games outcome; to say the very least the performance was impressive.

“Actually, we have been saying that we do not give much importance to the ranking or the results since the start of the competition. We just wanted to train the young players in our team.” Ding Ning said.

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Sun Chen who partnered Li Jiayuan to doubles success (Photo: Chinese Table Tennis Super League)

It was Sun Chen to actively participate in the competition. She played the doubles with Li Jiayuan and impressed.

Coach Yan Yongguo, after the first half of the preliminary stage, has emphasised that their main goal this season is to allow their young players to develop faster. He believed that in the next rounds, their young players will achieve a big improvement.

The coach was definitely not disappointed in the last round.

“We all have seen their constant development. There is a big improvement; this is very vital for us. It is a precious treasure.” Ding Ning added.

There are still several rounds remaining in the Super League. Ding Ning believes that the subsequent battles will not be easy. Therefore, she hopes that the team will be able to maintain their momentum.

“The subsequent rounds could be hard but I hope that whoever will be our opponent, we will be able to play out the spirit of Beijing Shougang.” Ding Ning concluded.

Currently Beijing is in joint second place in the Chinese Women’s Super League alongside Shandong Luneng and Anxin (19 points); Shandong Qilu (20 points) leads the field.

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