Four of the seven French players engaged in the Table Tennis World Cup played this Monday, and only Charlotte Lutz was defeated, after putting up a good fight against the 5th world player.
The Table Tennis World Cup has kicked off! Like the past two years, Macao is hosting the best male and female ping pong players in the world. They are divided into 16 groups of three, and only the winner of each group will advance to the round of 16. The format from last year, with matches in four sets and a points ratio calculation if both players have won two sets each, has been abolished, and there will indeed be a fifth set in case of a tie. Note that Flavien Coton, the brilliant winner of the WTT Contender in Tunis on Sunday, is not qualified for this World Cup.
Perfect performance for the two French players
While waiting for the Lebrun brothers Felix (6th worldwide) and Alexis (14th) to enter the competition on Tuesday, Thibault Poret (28th) faced the 102nd worldwide player Eugene Wang. And the Frenchman defeated the 40-year-old Canadian in four sets: 11-13, 12-10, 11-8, 11-4. But he will now have to challenge the 12th worldwide player, German Benedikt Duda. Simon Gauzy (19th) was, on the other hand, up against Algerian Stéphane Ouaiche, and it was a relatively easy task since he won 11-5, 11-8, 13-11. Things will get tougher in the second match, with a confrontation against the young 19-year-old Chinese player Wen Ruibo, the 17th worldwide player.
Yuan defeats a 64-year-old player
In the women’s category, there are three French players in the competition, and two of them entered the competition this Monday. Charlotte Lutz (53rd) suffered the only French defeat of the day. But she was unlucky in facing the 5th worldwide player, Chinese Man Kuai. The 20-year-old from Alsace came back strong after a disastrous start but ended up losing in five sets: 11-2, 11-6, 8-11, 6-11, 11-8. Qualifying for the round of 16 will be very difficult to achieve, as she will now face American Amy Wang, the 39th worldwide player. The number one French player and 24th in the world, Jia Nan Yuan, on the other hand, faced a 64-year-old player, New Zealander Chunli Li, 127th worldwide, who has competed in four Olympics and won the bronze medal at the 1997 World Cup. Yuan maintained her hierarchy by winning 11-13, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9.
