Table tennis world championship 1997

Table tennis world championship
1995 ← World Cup 1997 → 1999
date	24.4. - 5.5.1997
venue	Manchester
winner
Single (♂)	Jan-Ove Waldner
Single (♀)	Deng Yaping
Double (♂)	Kong Linghui Liu Guoliang
Double (♀)	Deng Yaping Yang Ying
Doubles (mixed)	Liu Guoliang Wu Na
Team (♂)	People's Republic of China
Team (♀)	People's Republic of China

The 44th table tennis world championship took place from April 24 to May 5, 1997 in Manchester (England) at the G-Mex Center.

Because of the civil war in Yugoslavia, the world association ITTF withdrew the option to host this World Cup in 1994 from Belgrade.

With 6 (out of 7 possible) gold medals, China impressively demonstrated its supremacy in table tennis. Jan-Ove Waldner was only able to win the gold medal in the men's singles final against Vladimir Samsonow .

The German women's team won the bronze medal - the first medal after the Second World War; the German men's team also took an excellent 4th place, for which there was also a bronze medal.

Game system of team competitions

The teams are divided into two performance categories. This time, 24 teams are competing in Category 1 (instead of 16 at the previous World Cup). According to the placement at the 1995 World Cup, the best 24 teams will be drawn into groups of six A to D. The other teams end up in category 2 in 16 groups E to T.

The winners of groups A - D are qualified for the quarter-finals. The winners of groups E - T are reduced to 4 teams in a knockout round. These then compete against the third parties in groups A - D. The winners of these fights determine the remaining 4 participants of the quarter-finals in a further elimination round against the runners-up in the groups.

From the quarter-finals onwards, the title is played in the knockout system. This game system guarantees that every team - including one from category 2 - has the chance to become world champions.

Each nation can register up to 5 active players for its team. Three of these players are used in a team fight. The game is played according to the World Cup system for teams of three : 5 singles, no doubles, 2 winning sets. If a team has reached 3 points, the fight is ended.

Game system of individual competitions

The individual title is determined in a main tournament consisting of 128 participants in the knockout system. For this main tournament, 32 players are seeded. The remaining participants must qualify for the main tournament in preceding groups. In qualifying rounds, each match is played for two winning sets, in the main tournament three winning sets.

Similarly, 64 pairs of doubles and mixed games will compete in the main tournament. 16 of these are wagered, the remaining pairs must qualify. From the quarter-finals onwards, three winning sets are played, previously on two winning sets.

Cutting off the Germans

Team competition men

Germany reached the quarter-finals with first place in Group C. This was achieved through victories over Hong Kong (3: 0), Denmark (3: 0), the Netherlands (3: 1) and South Korea (3: 0). After that, the team was secure in first place, the meaningless last group game against Poland was lost 3-2.

In the quarterfinals, Germany eliminated the team from Greece 3-1. After that, the French team was too strong and the game was lost 3-2. Although both the third and fourth placed received the bronze medal, the game for third place was played. Roßkopf and Franz paused here, South Korea won 3-2.

Roßkopf lost only one game in the team fights, namely against the Poles Krzeszewski.

Team competition women

Germany won a medal for the first time after the war, the last time a German-Austrian team became world champions in 1939 .

The team prevailed undefeated in Group C; this group had occasionally been referred to as a death group in advance because of the strong cast . Germany defeated Italy (3: 2), the USA (3: 0), North Korea (3: 2), Hong Kong (3: 2) and Taiwan (3: 1).

In the quarterfinals, they knocked out Sweden 3-2. Then she was in the semifinals against eventual world champions China 3-0 without a chance. In the game for third place, she prevailed 3-1.

The best German player was Jie Schöpp , who achieved a score of 8: 3 in the team fights.

Men's singles

Steffen Fetzner made it the furthest . He defeated Alexei Smirnow (RUS) and Kayode Kadiri (SWE), but then missed the round of 16 due to his defeat against Chinese Ding Song .

Jörg Roßkopf was eliminated one round earlier against Thomas von Scheele (SWE) after defeating Frederic Sonnet (BEL).

Timo Boll convinced at his debut World Cup. He prevailed in the qualifying rounds against Zaur Mikailov (AZE), Eyyad Mohd Hamza (BRN) and Daniel Wintersdorff (LUX). In the main round he lost to Petr Korbel (TCH).

Peter Franz also had to retire in the first round of the main field because of his defeat against Piotr Skierski (POL).

Also Torben Wosik had to go through the qualifying rounds. Here he won against Sobhi Sobhy (EGY), Leung Chu Yan (HKG) and Juan Carlos Frery (ARG). In the main round he failed to Dmitri Masunow (RUS).

After his victory over Gregor Komac (SVN), Thomas Keinath was eliminated from the qualifying tournament due to his defeat against the Spaniard Roberto Casares Sanchez.

Ladies singles

Nicole Struse was the only European to reach the quarter-finals, where the Chinese Wu Na was too strong. Previously, Struse had eliminated Tan Paey Fern (SIN), Jolanta Prūsienė (LIT) and Vivien Ellö (HUN).

Olga Nemes reached the round of 16 after victories over Mariana Sahakian (ARM), Rika Matsuoka (JPN) and Chai Po Wa (HKG). Here it was stopped by Qiao Yunping (CHN).

Jie Schöpp came just as far . She won against Yu Fen Tin (TPE) and Tatsiana Kostromina (BLR), but then had no chance against Wang Hui (CHN).

The World Cup debutante Cornelia Böttcher surprised in round 1 with her clear victory against number 51 in the world rankings Gong Yuechun (CHN). Then she lost to Ryu Ji Hae (KOR).

Elke Schall (against Tamara Boroš , CRO) and Christina Fischer (against Mihaela Steff , ROM) were eliminated in round one .

Men's doubles

For the first time at a World Cup, Roßkopf and Fetzner played separately.

Roßkopf / Wladimir Samsonow made it to the quarterfinals. They won against Barney James Reed / David Zhuang (USA), Thierry Cabrera / Nicolas Chatelain (BEL / FRA) and Karlsson / von Scheele (SWE). The later world champions Kong Linghui / Liu Guoliang (CHN) then prevailed.

Fetzner / Boll were among the last 32 doubles with a win over Ioannis Kordoutis / Ioannis Vlotinos (GRE). This was the end of the line against the Chinese Ma Lin / Wang Tao .

The double Peter Franz / Petr Korbel (GER / TCH) came just as far after beating Lucjan Błaszczyk / Tomasz Krzeszewski (POL). Due to injury, they then decided not to meet Kalinikos Kreanga / Zoran Primorac (GRE / CRO).

Thomas Keinath / Torben Wosik survived the qualifying round with victories over Paul Langley / Russell Lavale (AUS), Kenneth Ström / Stian Winther (NOR) and Sasa Ignjatovic / Gregor Komac (SLO). In the main round they lost to the Swedes Karlsson / von Scheele.

Ladies doubles

Only the pair Elke Schall / Nicole Struse survived the first round. They defeated Armine Makinyan / Mariana Sahakian (ARM), but then lost to the Japanese Ai Sakata / Yuki Takakusa.

Olga Nemes / Jie Schöpp (against Kim Boon Sik / Kim Moo-kyo , KOR) and Cornelia Böttcher / Christina Fischer (against Alessia Arisi / Laura Negrisoli , ITA) were eliminated immediately .

Mixed

In mixed, Ntaniel Tsiokas / Jie Schöpp (GRE / GER) only failed in the round of 16 against Ding Song / Wang Hui (CHN). They had previously eliminated Yaniv Sharon / Marina Kravchenko (ISR), Yu Manh Cuong / Do Thuy Ngo (VIE) and Yang Min / Alessia Arisi (ITA).

Torben Wosik / Christina Fischer won against Alexei Smirnow / Anna Isaeva (RUS / HUN) and Shinnosuke Kiho / Aya Umemura (JPN). In round 3 they lost to Patrick Chila / Åsa Svensson (FRA / SWE).

Steffen Fetzner / Elke Schall did not compete after victories over Euan Alexander Walker / Sarah Hurry (SCO) and Akira Takashi / Rika Sato (JPN) in round 3 due to an injury of Fetzner against Chinag Peng Lung / Chen Jing (TPE).

Also due to injury, Peter Franz / Nicole Struse did not start.

Thomas Keinath / Olga Nemes advanced against Mark Smythe / Magdalena Gorowska (AUS / POL), but not against Aleksandar Karakašević / Csilla Bátorfi (YUG / HUN).

In the qualifying round, Timo Boll / Cornelia Böttcher beat Ryan Jenkins / Bethan Deborah Daunton (WAL) and Marc Schreiber / Sandra Busin (SUI). In the main round they lost to Ma Lin / Wang Chen (CHN).

useful information

• 114 nations were represented at this World Cup. 112 men's and 83 women's teams as well as around 1,000 active players and around 600 referees were in action.
• Jan-Ove Waldner becomes world champion without losing a single set (7: 0 games, 21: 0 sets)
• Jan-Ove Waldner receives the Richard Bergmann Fair Play Prize from SCI .
• The Chinese Deng Yaping receives the Victor Barna Prize from the SCI .
• The teams from Qatar, Iran and Algeria did not play against Israel. Some suspected political reasons.
• The German Wieland Speer - former coach of the women's team from TTC Assenheim and managing director of the Hessian TT Association - trained the Maldives team.
• Hans-Dieter Viehmann (Rheinhausen) was one of two German referees.
• Germany had also considered applying to host the 1997 World Cup, but decided not to apply in 1994 due to financial risks.
• The ITTF held a framework tournament where 40 mm balls (instead of 38 mm) were experimented with. The result of this experiment was not useful.

Results

The following Germans only took part in the individual competitions:

• Gentlemen: Timo Boll
• Ladies: Cornelia Böttcher

competition	rank	winner
Team men	1.	China ( Kong Linghui , Liu Guoliang , Wang Tao , Ding Song , Ma Wenge )
	2.	France ( Patrick Chila , Jean-Philippe Gatien , Nicolas Chatelain , Christophe Legoût , Damien Éloi )
	3.	Korea ( Kim Taek Soo , Yoo Nam-Kyu , Lee Chul-seung , Oh Sang-eun , Kyo Sung Chu)
	4th	Germany ( Steffen Fetzner , Peter Franz , Thomas Keinath , Jörg Roßkopf , Torben Wosik )
	10.	Austria ( Ding Yi , Karl Jindrak , Kostadin Lengerov , Qianli Qian , Werner Schlager )
	49.	Switzerland (Ivan Jecic, Thierry Miller , Marc Schreiber, Jens Sidler)
Team women	1.	China ( Wang Chen , Li Ju , Wang Nan , Deng Yaping , Yang Ying )
	2.	North Korea (Jong Sil To, Hyon Hui Kim, Bok Sun Wi)
	3.	Germany ( Olga Nemes , Elke Schall , Nicole Struse , Jie Schöpp , Christina Fischer )
	35.	Switzerland ( Sandra Busin , Melanie Eggel, Daniela Oberholzer , Tu Dai Yong )
	39.	Austria ( Karin Albustin , Edith Glanzer, Ulrike Kraxner, Michaela Rieder)
Men's singles	1.	Jan-Ove Waldner - SWE
	2.	Vladimir Samsonov - BLR
	3.	Kong Linghui - CHN
	3.	Yan Sen - CHN
Ladies singles	1.	Deng Yaping - CHN
	2.	Wang Nan - CHN
	3.	Li Ju - CHN
	3.	Wu Na - CHN
Men's doubles	1.	Kong Linghui / Liu Guoliang - CHN
	2.	Jan-Ove Waldner / Jörgen Persson - SWE
	3.	Jean-Philippe Gatien / Damien Éloi - FRA
	3.	Kōji Matsushita / Hiroshi Shibutani - JPN
Ladies doubles	1.	Deng Yaping / Yang Ying - CHN
	2.	Wang Nan / Li Ju - CHN
	3.	Qiao Yunping / Wang Hui - CHN
	3.	Cheng Hongxia - CHN / Chai Po Wa - HKG
Mixed	1.	Liu Guoliang / Wu Na - CHN
	2.	Kong Linghui / Deng Yaping - CHN
	3.	Wang Liqin / Wang Nan - CHN
	3.	Peng-Lung Chiang - TPE / Chen Jing - CHN

Medal table

rank	country	gold	silver	bronze	total
1	People's Republic of China	6th	3	7th	16
2	Sweden	1	1	0	2
3	France	0	1	1	2
4th	North Korea	0	1	0	1
4th	Belarus	0	1	0	1
6th	Germany	0	0	1	1
6th	Japan	0	0	1	1
6th	South Korea	0	0	1	1
8th	Hong Kong	0	0	0.5	0.5
8th	Chinese Taipei	0	0	0.5	0.5
Total		7th	7th	12	26th

Web links

• Entry in ITTF database

Sources and individual references

• World Cup preview (DTS-April) DTS magazine , 1997/4 pp. 4–10
• WM review (DTS-Mai) magazine DTS , 1997/5 pp. 4–12 + 38–45 + 1997/6 pp. 4–18

1. ↑ DTS magazine , 1994/7 p. 26
2. ↑ DTS magazine , 1997/6 page 13
3. ↑ DTS magazine , 1997/5, page 45
4. ↑ DTS magazine , 1997/6 regional West, page 2
5. ^ DTS magazine , 1975/1 page 9
6. ↑ DTS magazine , 1997/10 page 27