Table tennis world championship 1999
The 45th table tennis world championship for individual competitions took place from August 2nd to 8th, 1999 in Eindhoven (Netherlands) in the Indoor Sportcentrum.
overview
A total of 652 participants competed. Around 14,000 spectators saw finals in all five competitions in which only Chinese took part. All five gold and silver medals and four bronze medals were won by China. Of the Europeans, only Schlager and Waldner reached the semi-finals in singles and Primorac / Samsonow in doubles.
prehistory
Only the individual competitions were held. The associated team fights were only held in Kuala Lumpur in 2000 . This was due to political reasons: After the German Table Tennis Association DTTB had waived the option to host the event in 1993, the TT World Championships in Belgrade (Yugoslavia) was originally planned. Because of the Kosovo war , this event was canceled. In a short time, the organization was reorganized and the individual world championship 1999 in Eindhoven and the team world championship 2000 in Kuala Lumpur took place. This explains the unusual event time in August.
Game system
The individual titles are played in a main tournament consisting of 128 participants in the knockout system. A game consists of three winning sets. According to their placement in the ITTF world rankings , 32 players are automatically qualified for the main tournament. Another 48 men and 64 to 70 women will be drawn into the main tournament. The remaining participants have to fight in preceding qualification groups for participation in the main tournament. Each qualification group consists of a maximum of four active players who play first place in the fight each against each other in two winning sets.
In doubles, the main tournament consists of 64, in mixed of 128 pairs. Up to and including the quarter-finals, two sets of wins are played, then three sets of wins.
Each association can register five women and five men. In addition, the first ten of the world rankings are entitled to start. This regulation enabled the DTTB to register seven women, as Jing Tian-Zörner took 4th place and Qianhong Gotsch 5th place in the world rankings.
Cutting off the Germans
Men's singles
Timo Boll got the furthest . He defeated Segun Toriola (Nigeria) and Patrick Chila (France). In the third round - 32 players played here - he was eliminated by defeat against Korean Kim Taek-soo .
For the remaining German men, round 2 was the end of the line.
Torben Wosik had to go through the qualifying rounds. Here he won against Raphael Keller (Switzerland) and Mirza Hadzijahic (Bosnia and Herzegovina). In the main round he first won against the Japanese Toshio Tasaki and then lost to Matthew Syed (England).
Jörg Roßkopf was unable to prepare adequately for the World Cup due to an injury. The win against Bohumil Vozicky (CZE) was followed by the defeat against Dmitri Masunow (RUS).
Also Steffen Fetzners World Cup preparations suffered an injury in the run. He won against Chen Sung (Netherlands) and then lost to Damien Éloi (France).
Ladies singles
Jing Tian-Zörner performed best , defeating Aida Steshenko (Turkmenistan), Elena Kovtun (Ukraine), Ai Sakata (Japan) and Csilla Bátorfi (Hungary) and only defeated in the quarterfinals by Ryu Ji Hae (Korea).
Jie Schöpp defeated Helena Halas (Slovenia) and Eldijana Aganovic (Croatia) and lost in Round 3 to Cheng Hongxia (China).
Olga Nemes was eliminated in round 2 after defeating Paulina Joanna Narkiewicz (Poland) and losing to Sun Jin (Hong Kong).
Elke Schall came just as far, winning against Chan San (Malta) and losing to Anne Boileau (France).
Nicole Struse defeated Kubrat Owolabi Aduke (England) and then lost to Mihaela Steff (Romania).
The debutante Katrin Meyerhöfer first had to compete in the qualifying round, where she progressed through victories over Catherine Ann Davies (Wales) and Michelle DO (USA). In the main round it was the final destination against Kim Moo-kyo (Korea).
Men's doubles
The most successful were Roßkopf / Fetzner . They reached the last sixteen. They started in round 2 and initially defeated Ivan Juzbasic / Roko Tošić (Croatia) and Nicolas Chatelain / Michel Martinez (France), but then lost to Chiang Peng-Lung / Chang Yuan Su (Taiwan).
Round 3 reached Peter Franz / Torben Wosik after victories over Michał Dziubański / Marcin Kusinski (Poland) and Alisher Kamilov / Russian Susherov (Uzbekistan). Here they were subject to the Japanese Koji Matsushita / Hiroshi Shibutani.
Timo Boll / Alexei Smirnow (RUS) came just as far after victories over Massimiliano Mondello / Yang Min (Italy) and El-Sayed Lashin / Ashraf Sobhy (Egypt) when they were eliminated against Zoran Primorac / Wladimir Samsonow (Belarus).
Ladies doubles
Here Qianhong Gotsch / Jie Schöpp made it to the round of 16. Starting in round 2, they eliminated Tawny Ai Banh Thua / Lily Yip (USA) and Sarit Hose / Marina Kravchenko (Israel). Against Geng Lijuan / Suk Eun-mi (China / Korea) it was the end of the line.
Schall / Struse advanced against Nicola Bentley / Catherine Ann Davies (Scotland / Wales), only to lose to Ni Xialian / Peggy Regenwetter from Luxembourg .
Olga Nemes / Georgeta Olaru (Romania) immediately failed to Kim Hyon-hui / Kim Yang Mi (North Korea).
Katrin Meyerhöfer / Jing Tian-Zörner were the only ones to start in round 1. Here they prevailed against Dusanka Matovic / Rumenka Krasteva (Macedonia), but then lost to Park Hae-jung / Kim Moo-kyo (Korea).
Mixed
There were seven mixed doubles with German participation.
Boll / Struse were most successful by reaching the round of 16. They switched Thiago Farias Monte Monteiro / Ligia Silva Santos (Brazil), Yongxiang David Zhuang / Gao Jun (USA) and Zoran Primorac / Tamara Boroš (Croatia). After that, Tan Ruiwu / Zhang Yining (China) were too strong.
Wosik / Schall won against Adam Michael Robertson / Bethan Deborah Daunton (Wales), Jauhen Schtschazinin (Belarus) and lost against Yan Sen / Zhang Hui (China).
Matthew Syed (England) / Qianhong Gotsch defeated Eric Owens / Jun Amy Feng (USA) and Daniel Wintersdorff / Peggy Regenwetter (Luxembourg) and then lost to Ma Lin / Zhang Yingying (China).
Ntaniel Tsiokas (Greece) / Jie Schöpp came just as far after victories over Michel Martinez / Agathe Costes (France) and Alexei Smirnow / Galina Melnik (Russia) as well as the defeat against Feng Zhe / Sun Jin (China).
Istvan Moldovan (Norway) / Nemes eliminated Pasi Valasti / Marloes de Smet (Finland / Netherlands), but then Leung Chu Yan / Ah Song (Hong Kong) were too strong.
Liu Song (Argentina) / Jing Tian-Zörner advanced one lap with a victory over Agon Saiti / Rumenka Krasteva (Macedonia), but were then stopped by Zoran Primorac / Tamara Boroš .
Mika Räsänen (Finland) / Katrin Meyerhöfer prevailed in the 1st round (= qualifying round) against Ganeshan Veerasamy Descann / Devina Dookhee (Mauritius). Then they were eliminated against Allan Bentsen / Pernilla Pettersson (Denmark / Sweden).
politics
The Dutch government refused a visa to the Yugoslav assets because of the war in Yugoslavia. Only Slobodan Grujić was able to enter because of the Schengen Agreement , as he lived in Germany.
ITTF Congress
The ITTF Congress dealt with the following requests from members:
- Introduction of the timeout : In each game, one party may take a 1-minute break. A coach can advise the players. This regulation applies from September 1, 1999 to international competitions.
- Time play : Time play also starts if a set has reached 19:19 or later after 15 minutes. However, this set is played "normally" to the end, the next set is continued in time play mode.
- Table tennis ball : The request to enlarge the ball to 40 mm in diameter failed due to the required two-thirds majority.
The German Hans Gieseke was voted out of office as Vice President of Finance. His successor was Pierre Alberini from France.
useful information
- 100 referees were in action, six of them German. The women's final was chaired by the German referees Richard Kettemer (Elfershausen) and Klemens Rang (Hanau).
- Ma Lin received the fairness award. In the semifinals against Waldner, he corrected a referee's decision to his disadvantage and added an edge ball.
- New Zealander Li Chunli missed her game against Yang Ying (China) because she mistakenly believed the match would not take place until the next day.
philately
Sender franking marks in red were used in Eindhoven and Zoetermeer to advertise the World Cup.
Issues for the planned 1999 World Cup in Belgrade: On April 9, 1999, the Yugoslav post office issued two postage stamps ( Michel catalog no. 2908–2909) in miniature sheets of 8 stamps and a decorative field. There was also a special first day cancellation from Belgrade and a postal stationery envelope with the image of the Belgrade Arena in the value stamp. On April 19, 1999, the Republika Srpska issued two postage stamps ( Michel catalog no. 123-124) in miniature sheets of 8 stamps and a decorative field. There was also a first day special cancellation from Banja Luka . A postage stamp from North Korea appeared on April 26, 1999 in a perforated and cut version ( Michel catalog no. 4149). There was also a first day special cancellation and a stamp booklet.
Results
The following Germans took part:
- Gentlemen: Timo Boll , Steffen Fetzner , Peter Franz , Jörg Roßkopf , Torben Wosik
- Ladies: Qianhong Gotsch , Katrin Meyerhöfer , Olga Nemes , Elke Schall , Jie Schöpp , Nicole Struse , Jing Tian-Zörner
| competition | rank | winner |
|---|---|---|
| Team men | 1. | not applicable |
| Team women | 1. | not applicable |
| Men's singles | 1. | Liu Guoliang - CHN |
| 2. | Ma Lin - CHN | |
| 3. | Werner Schlager - AUT | |
| 3. | Jan-Ove Waldner -SWE | |
| Ladies singles | 1. | Wang Nan - CHN |
| 2. | ZHANG Yining - CHN | |
| 3. | Ryu Ji Hae - COR | |
| 3. | Li Nan - CHN | |
| Men's doubles | 1. | Kong Linghui / Liu Guoliang - CHN |
| 2. | Wang Liqin / Yan Sen - CHN | |
| 3. | Zoran Primorac - CRO / Vladimir Samsonov - BLR | |
| 3. | Sang Joon Park / Kim Taek Soo - KOR | |
| Ladies doubles | 1. | Wang Nan / Li Ju - CHN |
| 2. | Sun Jin / Yang Ying - CHN | |
| 3. | Zhang Yining / Yingying Zhang - CHN | |
| 3. | Park Hae-jung / Kim Moo-kyo - COR | |
| Mixed | 1. | Ma Lin / Zhang Yingying - CHN |
| 2. | Feng Zhe / Sun Jin - CHN | |
| 3. | Wang Liqin / Wang Nan - CHN | |
| 3. | Qin Zhijian / Yang Ying - CHN |
Medal table
| rank | country | gold | silver | bronze | total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 People's Republic of China
|
5 | 5 | 4th | 14th |
| 2 |
 South Korea
|
0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 3 |
 Austria
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 |
 Sweden
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 |
 Croatia
|
0 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| 6th |
.svg){kind=small} Belarus
|
0 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Total | 5 | 5 | 10 | 20th | |
swell
- WM review (DTS-September) DTS magazine , 1999/9 pp. 4–20