Korea Republic has officially done enough to seal its place in Stage 3 at ITTF Mixed Team World Cup Chengdu 2024 presented by CHINA TELECOM, prevailing 8-5 over Japan on Saturday afternoon.
Responding to an early Mixed Doubles setback, Korea Republic would draw level with Japan at 3-3 thanks to an exemplary performance from Shin Yubin who beat Asuka Sasao in a tense showdown (11-8, 11-8, 6-11).
Jang Woojin would quickly follow suit with a win of his own, taking down Yuta Tanaka (11-3, 9-11, 11-7), and with Korea Republic picking up three games across the Men’s Doubles and Women’s Doubles contests, qualification to Stage 3 was theirs.
“I participated in two matches today and felt quite comfortable with my performance, thanks to the support of my brothers and sisters behind me and the many spectators cheering me on. I hope that everyone will cheer me on in the following matches as well.” Shin Yubin
The race to join China and Korea Republic in Stage 3 is going right down to the wire, with Romania amongst the teams still in contention.
Falling Second Stage 3 Ticket Goes To Korea Republicbehind to Germany in the Mixed Doubles, it was Adina Diaconu who put Romania on track with a 3-0 win over Yuan Wan (12-10, 11-3, 11-3), but the Romanian team encountered another setback in the following singles as Kay Stumper overcame Eduard Ionescu (11-5, 11-3, 6-11).
With the overall match score sitting at 5-4, the pair of Andreea Dragoman and Bernadette Szocs successfully came through the Women’s Doubles against Yuan Wan and Franziska Schreiner (11-8, 11-13, 11-6). Darius Movileanu and Eduard Ionescu would then see the task through to completion, producing a winning effort against Kay Stumper and Fanbo Meng (12-10) to settle the match.
“I played my singles for Romania with confidence. I was trying to play to see how she was playing and I was fighting for every point, because I knew that every game was important. Game by game I was improving, and I started to play better and better.” Adina Diaconu
Elsewhere, France’s outside hopes of a Stage 3 spot were crushed by China as the 2023 champion outclassed the European side 8-0, while Hong Kong, China stays in contention with an 8-3 victory over USA.
