China’s Sun and Wang battle into World Cup semi-finals on day of upsets in Macau

Chinese stars Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin battled through intense matches and dramatic comebacks to reach the ITTF World Cup semi-finals, on a Saturday marked by a series of upsets at the Galaxy Arena in Macau.

While Wang Chuqin produced a stirring comeback to keep China’s hopes alive in the men’s singles, edging Slovenia’s Darko Jorgic 4-3, in a seven-game thriller, only Sun and Wang Manyu survived the women’s quarter-finals, with Chen Xintong and Wang Yidi getting knocked out.

Trailing 3-1, table tennis world champion Wang Chuqin regrouped to level at 3-3, before clinching a breathtaking decider 13-11 to reach the last four.

“As an athlete you do not want to give up easily. I am just glad I survived another day,” Wang said. “I started very smoothly, but perhaps I became a bit complacent and lost focus.

“When I called the timeout I was in a very difficult position – I could not play my game and felt helpless. But there are many ways to face a match, and gradually I found some solutions.”

The men’s world No 1 will face Hugo Calderano in Sunday’s semi-finals, after the Brazilian eased past France’s Alexis Lebrun 4-0. Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-ju takes on Japan’s Sora Matsushima in the other match in the final four.

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