Table tennis world championship 2001
The 47th table tennis world championship took place from April 23 to May 6, 2001 in Osaka ( Japan ). The venue was the Muncipal Central Gymnasium. It was the last World Cup event in which team and individual competitions were held. The last time the sets were counted to 21. It was also the first World Cup with the enlarged 40 mm ball .
China dominated the sport and won all 7 gold medals. The Belgian men's team sensationally defeated the defending champions from Sweden in the semi-finals. Germany’s men's team finished in 7th place after losing 3-1 in the quarter-finals to China.
In the individual competitions, the dominance of the Chinese players was even more overwhelming. The European players were completely without a medal. Only a few Asian players were able to prevent total Chinese triumph with individual silver or bronze medals.
Game system of team competitions
The teams were divided into three performance divisions. Divisions 1 and 2 consisted of 8 groups with three teams each. The remaining teams played in Division 3. Only the participants in the first two divisions could win the title. The eight group winners of Division 1 immediately reached the round of 16. The group winners from Division 2 competed in the so-called Challenge Match against the group third from Division 1. The winners of this challenge match fought against the runners-up from Division 1 for a place in the round of 16.
Cutting off the Germans
Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth was not nominated for this World Cup "for disciplinary reasons".
Team competition men
The German team started in the 1st division in Group G, where they achieved first place with victories over Canada (3: 0) and Austria (3: 1) and were thus able to compete directly in the second round. Here she prevailed against Poland 3-1. In the quarter-finals she met eventual world champion China. Germany lost with 1: 3, Timo Boll got the point for Germany with his win against Wang Liqin . In the following matches for places 5 to 8, Germany lost 3-1 to France and won 3-0 against Italy. This put Germany in 7th place.
Team competition women
The German team started in the 1st division in Group G. Here they won against Australia 3-1, but lost against North Korea 0-3. This put her in second place and had to compete against the winner of the challenge match. This was the USA, who were defeated 3-0. In the last sixteen the end came with a 3-0 draw against China. In the battles for 9th to 16th place, the team prevailed against Yugoslavia (3: 0), Croatia (3: 1) and Hong Kong (3: 0) and came in 9th.
Men's singles
All five German players reached at least the round of the best 32.
Jörg Roßkopf reached the round of 16after victories over Karl Jindrak (Austria), Istvan Moldovan (Norway) and Damien Éloi (France), where he lost to the Chinese Ma Lin . Timo Boll came just as far,beating Yu Manh Cuong (Vietnam), Kim Song-hui (North Korea) and Zhan Jian (Singapore). Then he lost to Chiang Peng-Lung (China). Torben Wosik eliminated Srdjan Milicevic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Yang Min (Italy), then failed to the Croatian Zoran Primorac . For Peter Franz meant Jan-Ove Waldner (Sweden), the last stop after battling Ferenc Pazsy (Hungary) and Chuang Chih-Yuan had gained (Taiwan). World Cup debutant Lars Hielscher advancedagainst Ntaniel Tsiokas (Greece) and Toshio Tasaki (Japan), but not against world number three Liu Guozheng (China).
Ladies singles
None of the five German women reached the last sixteen.
Nicole Struse defeated Yuka Nishii (Japan) and Sandra Johansson (Sweden), but hadno chanceagainst Ryu Ji Hae (Korea) and was among the last 32. Jie Schöpp came just as far; she eliminated Jolanta Prūsienė (Lithuania) and Tawny Ai Banh Thua (USA), but then lost in 5 sets against Jing Jun Hong (Singapore). World Cup debutante Jessica Göbel survived the first round against Judith Herczig (Austria), but then lost to Wong Ching (Hong Kong). Elke Schall had to retire immediatelyagainst Ai Fujinuma (Japan) and Katrin Meyerhöfer against Eva Ódorová (Slovakia).
Men's doubles
Roßkopf / Hielscher failed in the round of 16 against the French Patrick Chila / Jean-Philippe Gatien after they had previously won against Masaya Kato / Muneaki Mitamura (Japan) and Lucjan Błaszczyk / Tomasz Krzeszewski (Poland). Franz / Wosik were eliminated in the first round against Petr Korbel / Tomas Pavelka (Czech Republic).
Ladies doubles
Also sound / Struse reached the knockout stages. They defeated Sivaghnam Mythilimylapore / Nagapattinam Ramakrishnan Indu (India) and Kwok Fong Fong / Song Ah Som (Hong Kong). They lost against Li Ju / Wang Nan (China) in the third set. Meyerhöfer / Schöpp had no chance in Round 1 against Wong Ching / Lau Sui Fei (Hong Kong).
Mixed
While Wosik / Schall said goodbye after defeating Ohad Paniel / Yulia Daktiar (Israel) with a defeat against Adrian Crișan / Mihaela Steff (Romania), Boll / Struse advanced one round. They won against Sanan Ariyachotina / Pornsri Ariyachotina (Thailand) and Zang Tai Yong / Jing Jun Hong (Singapore). Then they lost to Ryo Yuzawa / Keiko Okazaki (Japan) in the round of 16 . Hielscher / Göbel were eliminated in the first round against Damien Éloi / Anne-Sophie Gourin (France).
useful information
- The Austrian Kostadin Lengerov refused to compete in the team fight against Sweden. He was then withdrawn from the tournament by the Austrian Table Tennis Association .
- The referees Horst Verwiebe (Neuss) and Heinz Krause (Sellstedt) were nominated for the first time to participate in a World Cup.
ITTF Congress
In order to make table tennis more interesting for the media - especially television - the ITTF Congress decides that from September 1, 2001, one sentence will be reduced to eleven points (instead of 21) at international events. At the same time, the number of winning sets is increased by one set. This change remains - like the ball enlargement from 2000 - largely ineffective in terms of media interest.
Due to the shortened sentences, a change to the time game rules is also decided. The time game ( alternation method ) starts when a set lasts 10 minutes (previously 15 minutes).
Results
| competition | rank | winner |
|---|---|---|
| Team men | 1. | China ( Kong Linghui , Wang Liqin , Liu Guoliang , Ma Lin , Liu Guozheng ) |
| 2. | Belgium ( Jean-Michel Saive , Philippe Saive , Andras Podpinka , Martin Bratanov, Marc Closset) | |
| 3. | Sweden ( Jan-Ove Waldner , Jörgen Persson , Peter Karlsson , Fredrik Hakansson, Magnus Molin ) | |
| 3. | South Korea ( Ryu Seung-min , Oh Sang-eun , Joo Se-hyuk , Lee Chul-seung , Kim Taek Soo ) | |
| 5. | Austria ( Chen Weixing , Karl Jindrak , Kostadin Lengerov , Qianli Qian , Werner Schlager ) | |
| 7th | Germany ( Timo Boll , Jörg Roßkopf , Peter Franz , Lars Hielscher , Torben Wosik ) | |
| Team women | 1. | China ( Sun Jin , Wang Nan , Li Ju , Yang Ying , ZHANG Yining ) |
| 2. | North Korea ( Kim Hyang-mi , Kim Yun-mi , Kim Mi-yong , Jong Sil To, Kim Hyon-hui ) | |
| 3. | Japan (Yoshie Takada, Keiko Okazaki, Yuka Nishi, An Konishi) | |
| 3. | South Korea ( Jun Hye-kyung , Lee Eun-Sil , Ryu Ji Hae , Suk Eun-mi , Kim Moo-kyo ) | |
| 9. | Germany ( Jessica Göbel , Katrin Meyerhöfer , Elke Wosik , Jie Schöpp , Nicole Struse ) | |
| 16. | Austria ( Judith Herczig , Liu Jia , Andrea Mayrhofer, Michaela Zillner ) | |
| Men's singles | 1. | Wang Liqin - CHN |
| 2. | Kong Linghui - CHN | |
| 3. | Ma Lin - CHN | |
| 3. | Chiang Peng-Lung - TPE | |
| Ladies singles | 1. | Wang Nan - CHN |
| 2. | Lin Ling - CHN | |
| 3. | Kim Yun-mi - PRK | |
| 3. | ZHANG Yining - CHN | |
| Men's doubles | 1. | Wang Liqin / Yan Sen - CHN |
| 2. | Kong Linghui / Liu Guoliang - CHN | |
| 3. | Oh Sang-eun / Kim Taek Soo - KOR | |
| 3. | Chiang Peng-Lung / Chang Yen-Shu - TPE | |
| Ladies doubles | 1. | Wang Nan / Li Ju - CHN |
| 2. | Sun Jin / Yang Ying - CHN | |
| 3. | Akiko Takeda / Mayu Kishi-Kawagoe - JPN | |
| 3. | ZHANG Yining / Yingying Zhang - CHN | |
| Mixed | 1. | Qin Zhijian / Yang Ying - CHN |
| 2. | Oh Sang-eun / Kim Moo-kyo - KOR | |
| 3. | Liu Guoliang / Sun Jin - CHN | |
| 3. | Zhan Jian / Bai Yang - CHN |
Medal table
| rank | country | gold | silver | bronze | total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 People's Republic of China
|
7th | 4th | 5 | 16 |
| 2 |
 South Korea
|
0 | 1 | 3 | 4th |
| 3 |
 North Korea
|
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 4th |
 Belgium
|
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 |
 Japan
|
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 5 |
 Chinese Taipei
|
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 7th |
 Sweden
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 7th | 7th | 14th | 28 | |
philately
On April 3, 2001, two postage stamps in miniature sheets ( Michel catalog No. 3149-3150) were delivered by the Japanese Post Office. Illustration: God of thunder and god of wind play table tennis. The People's Republic of China honored the winning of all seven titles by Chinese table tennis athletes with a special stamp on May 6, 2001 in Wuxi (无锡 市) and Handan (邯郸 市: Hándān shì).