by Wade Townsend & Amy Ding

The semi-finals of the Women’s Team event were played today, Tuesday 31 August, in Tianjin at the China National Games.

In the first semi-final matchup, despite Ding Ning winning both her matches, Team Beijing still suffered a 3-2 defeat to Sichuan.

“Both sides played at a rather high level, and the scores were very tight. We had chances in the third and fifth match, but it was a pity that we lost.” Ding Ning

“At first, our goal was to pass the group stage since our opponents were quite strong. All of us have worked our best and we made it to the semi-final. However, sometimes the competition could be very brutal. I hope all of us manage to adjust our mindset and be well prepared for the individual events.”

Ding was able to rise to the occasion today, and, in spite of the loss, felt that she left everything out on the court.

“I definitely feel the pressure, it’s obvious. Whoever we play against, I must take two points. That is also required by my coach. I have done my best, no matter during the game or speaking of responsibility, I would say I’ve done a good job.”

In the final Sichuan will be up agains Heilongjiang after they defeated Team Hubei 3-2.

Speaking after the match Heilongjiang’s lead player, Wang Manyu, said that it was all about focusing on each point as it came.

“I didn’t think too much about the pressure of winning, just to be myself. Our opponent was really strong  so I just played the game point by point,” said Wang.

“All of our team members have performed really well. We played at our best in every match. I think it’s a miracle that we made it to the final. We have written history!” Wang Manyu

“I’m really happy. We thought about winning, but when we really made it we still get super excited! We have no hesitation for tomorrow’s final. We will fight and leave no regrets!”

The final gets underway tomorrow, Friday 1 September, 2:30pm local time.