by Henry Chen 

Feng Tianwei stole the spotlight, she beat Ding Ning, the Rio 2016 Olympic Games gold medallist in the fourth match of the encounter, she emerged successful in a closely fought contest (12-10, 13-15, 2-11, 11-7, 7-5).

Feng Tianwei started strong in the battle against the visitors. She beat Li Jiayuan in the opening match (11-5, 11-9, 11-8). Ding Ning returned the favour and by overcoming Li Jiayi (11-9, 11-6, 11-8).

The encounter in the doubles went to the Ordos Team following the victory of Li Jiayi and Zhu Zhaohui against Li Jiayuan and Sun Chen (11-8, 9-11, 7-3); this placed Ordos on the lead whilst Beijing was close to danger.

It was the second consecutive defeat for Beijing; in their immediate prior fixture, they had lost to Jilin.

The other elite player in the competition, Liu Shiwen delivered positive results for her Anxin Team in the round. They were the host against Shenzhen. Liu Shiwen contributed two wins, she beatSun Yingsha (11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 9-11, 7-2), and Chen Meng (11-6, 11-2, 11-3).

Unfortunately for the host, Liu Shiwen’s contribution was not enough to post a victory. Feng Yalan was beaten in the deciding fifth match by Wang Yidi (11-9, 6-11, 7-2)..

Meanwhile, the Bayi Team had a challenging round against their visitors from Jilin. The main player Mu Zi brought the Bayi Team to level at two-all.  She beat Chen Ke in the second match (11-7, 6-11, 11-8, 11-7) and Wang Manyu in the fourth  (11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7).

However, Jilin also won the opener and the doubles. Therefore, a decider took place between Sun Mingyang and Liu Fei. Sun Minyang prevailed (11-9, 6-11, 9-7).

Thanks to the efforts of Zhu Yuling’s, Shandong Luneng sealed another victory this season. They controlled their battle against their opponents from Shandong Qilu. Zhu Yuling recorded victories against Chen Xingtong (14-12, 11-5, 11-7) and against Wu Yang (11-6, 10-12, 11-9, 11-9).

Luneng’s tandem Li Xiaodan and Gu Yuting won the doubles against Wen Jia and Chen Xingtong (11-9, 13-11)

Shanxi completed the list of victorious teams in the round. They finished the battle against their guest, Sichuan with a clean sweep. Che Xiaoxi, Guo Yichen, and Zheng Shichang delivered comfortable victories in their respective matches.