by Simon Daish
World champions in action
Start your day off in the best possible way by watching World champions Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen in mixed doubles action as the Chinese duo take on the host nation’s Lim Jonghoon and Yoo Eunchong on table no.1 from 10.00am local time.
Xu Xin will also feature in the men’s doubles draw, partnering Fan Zhendong – the sixth seeds face second seeds Ho Kwan Kit and Wong Chun Ting at the quarter-finals stage at approximately 11.15am on table no.3. Over on table no.2 Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto and Koki Niwa take on home favourites Jeoung Youngsik and Lee Sangsu.
Women’s doubles then follows with table no.1 featuring China’s Chen Meng and Wang Manyu against Japan’s Miu Hirano and Saki Shibata. The Slovak/Czech pair of Babora Balazova and Hana Matelova, seeded second, take to table no.4 where Korea’s Choi Hyojoo and Yang Haeun await in what should prove to be an exciting contest.
Battle of frenemies
From 12.35pm the attention turns to the men’s singles event: the home crowd will be put through somewhat of a difficult position as two of their own do battle with Jang Woojin and Jeoung Youngsik facing off on table no.1. This is one match where a Korean player won’t technically hold home advantage, but which one will handle the pressure better?
An all-Swedish contest is also on the cards as Mattias Falck meets Kristian Karlsson: this will be just the second time the two have met on the international stage with Falck holding the edge in their previous head-to-head at the 2018 Swedish Open – could we see the reverse outcome this time around?
Next up on the day’s schedule we have women’s singles round two encounters from 1.25pm. Ding Ning faces a dangerous opponent in the form of three-time Korea Open champion Feng Tianwei – also keep an eye out for Japan’s Miyu Nagasaki: at the 2019 Japan Open she successfully accounted for Zhu Yuling – in Busan can she condemn Wang Manyu to the same fate?
Star names to clash
Following semi-final contests from all three doubles categories we have some cracking matches from the women’s singles draw. Watch a repeat of the 2019 Japan Open final at 6.40pm as Sun Yingsha aims to get the better of Liu Shiwen yet again on table no.2 or why not check out Miu Hirano’s meeting with Chen Meng?
Then find out if Wong Chun Ting can beat Tomokazu Harimoto for the first time on the ITTF World Tour stage at 7.30pm and make sure to stick around for the closing fixtures of the day at 8.20pm, one of which sees Nigerian star Quadri Aruna attempt to overthrow World no.1 Xu Xin.
