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It is on this weekend. The Women's World Cup will be held in Guangzhou, China, featuring title holder Li Xiaoxia (CHN), defensive ace Kim Kyung Ah (KOR), last year's runner up Tie Yana (HKG).,European star Ruta Paskauskiene (LTU), Ai Fukuhara (JPN) and many others.

For more information, please see ITTF link below :
http://www.ittf.com/competitions/compet ... gory=media

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Making their first appearance in the Womens World Cup this round will be Congo Brazzaville’s Han Xing, Japan’s Sayaka Hirano, Korea’s Park Mi Young, Lithuania’s Ruta Paskauskeine and Canada’s Zhang Mo and last but not the least the host nation’s 18 year old Liu Shiwen.

Liu Shiwen currently leads the Women’s Singles Standings on the ITTF Pro Tour, having won three titles in 2009. She won in Fredrikshaven at the Danish Open in January and then followed with successes at the two ITTF Pro Tour tournaments held in China. She clinched gold in Suzhou and in Tianjin.

Furthermore, she is one of the few players in 2009 to have really tested Zhang Yining; at the H.I.S. World Championships she extended the reigning Olympic and World champion to six games, whilst at the recent All China National Games Zhang Yining needed to full seven games to ensure victory.

Since the very first staging of the event in Hong Kong in 1996 the competition has always been won by a member of the Chinese national team. Deng Yaping won the first before handing over the mantle to Wang Nan who alongside Zhang Yining is the most successful player in the history of the tournament; both have won on four occasions. Wang Nan has now retired from the rigours of international table tennis whilst Zhang Yining, as in 2008, is not competing. In fact of the previous winners, only Li Xiaoxia is on duty; Li Ju, the winner in 2000 has long since retired whilst Guo Yan, who memorably beat Zhang Yining in the final in 2006 in Urumqi is not on duty.

The possible threat is Guo Yue, the winner of the Women’s Singles title at the Liebherr World Championships in 2007. She now has considerable experience but if it comes down to experience then Hong Kong’s Tie Yana is a candidate, by competing in Guangzhou, she will be playing in her eighth Women’s World Cup.

No player has competed in more and only two others have competed in eight, Gao Jun of the United States and Li Jia Wei of Singapore; neither are present in Guangzhou.

Threats from outside China are Korea’s Kim Kyung Ah and Austria’s Liu Jia, who will be making their sixth appearance in the tournament; whilst for Australia’s Miao Miao and Hungary’s Krisztina Toth it will be their fifth venture in the prestigious tournament.
Meanwhile for Hong Kong’s Jiang Huajun, Li Jiao of the Netherlands, Chile’s Berta Rodriguez and Singapore’s Wang Yue Gu it is their third appearance, as it is for Li Xiaoxia; whilst for Wang Yue Gu’s compatriot, Feng Tianwei, it is her second outing.

(Note : Excerpts from ITTF News)

See also the official website of the Women's World Cup : http://www.wwc2009.cn/

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The top four seeds at the Volkswagen Women’s World Cup in Guangzhou all booked semi-final places following the conclusion of group matches and quarter-final contests on Sunday 11th October 2009. China’s Guo Yue, Li Xiaoxia and Liu Shiwen, the respective top three seeds all enjoyed success, as did Singapore’s Feng Tianwei, the no.4 seed.

The Chinese duo of 21 year old Li Xiaoxia (Seeded no.2) and 18 year old Liu Shiwen booked their places in the Volkswagen Women’s World Cup semi-finals in Guangzhou on Sunday 11th October 2009 in devastating fashion. Both Li Xiaoxia and Liu Shiwen, the respective no.3 and no.4 ranked players on the current ITTF Women’s World Ranking list, started as favourites and they endorsed that fact.

However, for Li Xiaoxia, the defending champion, the path to the penultimate stage was not without its problems. In the group stage of proceedings she suffered a shock six games defeat at the hands of Japan’s Ai Fukuhara, currently world ranked no.25 on the ITTF Women’s World Ranking list, as opposed to Li Xiaoxia who stands at no.3. Nevertheless, she finished the group in first place having beaten Austria’s Liu Jia in four straight games, the margin by which the latter had defeated Ai Fukuhara. On games ratio Li Xiaoxia and Liu Jia progressed to the main draw with Ai Fukuhara being eliminated.

Defeat for Li Xiaoxia in the first stage of proceedings but that reverse was soon resigned to history; at the quarter-final stage she was in devastating form, recording an impressive five games win over Li Jiao of the Netherlands.

Equally, Liu Shiwen was in superb form at the quarter-final stage overcoming Korean defender Kim Kyung Ah in four straight games; whilst in more testing encounters, six game victories were recorded by Guo Yue against Liu Jia and by Feng Tianwei in opposition to Kim Kyung Ah’s compatriot, Park Mi Young.

At the semi-final stage, Guo Yue meets Feng Tianwei whilst Li Xiaoxia confronts Liu Shiwen.

Quarter-Finals Results :
Liu Shiwen (CHN) bt Kim Kyung Ah (KOR) 11-5, 11-9, 11-5, 11-3
Li Xiaoxia (CHN) bt Li Jiao (NED) 11-5, 4-11, 11-2, 11-4, 13-11
Guo Yue (CHN) bt Liu Jia (AUT) 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-7
Feng Tianwei (SIN) bt Park Mi Young (KOR) 11-2, 5-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 11-4

(Note : Excerpts from ITTF News)

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Semi-final Results :
Guo Yue (CHN) bt Feng Tianwei (SIN) 11-8, 5-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-6, 11-8
Liu Shiwen (CHN) bt Li Xiaoxia (CHN) 13-15, 11-8, 16-14, 11-9, 11-9

The reigning champion, China’s 21 year old Li Xiaoxia bowed out of the Volkswagen Women’s World Cup in Guangzhou at the semi-final stage on Monday 12th October 2009. Seeded no.2, she was beaten in five games by national team compatriot, 18 year old Liu Shiwen, seeded no.3.
The defeat of Li Xiaoxia means that a new name will be added to the Women’s World Cup Roll of Honour; Li Xiaoxia was the only player competing who had previously won the event.
Now, the best possible finish for player who currently occupies the no.3 position on the ITTF Women’s World Ranking in the bronze medal; in the play-off for third place she meets Singapore’s Feng Tianwei. The Singaporean, seeded no.4, suffered a penultimate round defeat at the hands of top seed, China’s Guo Yue, the player who in 2007 excelled in Zagreb to win the Women’s Singles title at the Liebherr World Championships.

Guo Yue, guided by Kong Linghui she succeeded at the quarter-final stage of the Women’s Singles event at the H.I.S. World Championships in Yokohama in early May and then later in the same month, in the same round, at the Asian Cup.

It is for Liu Shiwen her first appearance in the Volkswagen Women’s World Cup whilst for Guo Yue it is the first time she has reached the final in four attempts; her previous best was third place in 2007

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Here is a video of Group A (in youtube) - Wang Yue Gu vs Ruta Paskauskiene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shuGgdxOQ54

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Watched ITTF live streaming on the Finals of Women World Cup in Guangzhou.

Guo Yue and Liu Shiwen are playing and it was a really "crazy rallies" between them. For both Guo Yue & Liu SW, this is the first Women World Cup final. The score was 3-3 and the one with a better nerve in the last game will be the winner. Liu was leading 7-4 when Guo Yue lost her concentration to lose 7 points in a row. Finally, Liu prevailed and won the Final with a 4-3 score.
Congratulations to Liu SW.

I understand that Liu's entry to the Women World Cup was a “Wild Card” invitation to compete in the event by being the no.1 ranked player on the ITTF Under 18 Girls’ World Ranking list.

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I was informed that the match between Feng Tianwei and Krisztina Toth has many beautiful rallies.
Anyone has got the video?

[ejunkie]

I have seen both play. The first fast and close to the table while the latter slow and powerful with great topspin defense.

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Well, I must say this year (2009) Women's World Cup, we see a sensational matches, especially the Finals, and for those on site were also witness to one of the best ever presented Women's World Cup. Even the ITTF President Mr. Adham Sharara was impressed.

For the very first time, the use of 2 large LED screens in the venue (sponsored by Volkswagen) added great effect for the large venue. All parties (TTF & CTTA) worked together to ensure that the entertainment was of the absolute highest quality. The ITTF providing a traditional Chinese band made up of very talented ladies who played cool modern music, the local organizers providing cheerleaders and acrobats and Volkswagen providing cool music and technical support, all coordinated by the director from Guangzhou and assisted by CTTA staff.

Adham said, "It was very obvious to Mr. Karl Jindrak, ITTF Competition Manager and myself that all those involved in the Volkswagen 2009 Women’s World Cup, and especially the large number of spectators (approximately 7000) during the final, all had a wonderful time. A 45 minute wait between the 3rd place and final match felt like much less due to the entertainment provided between the two matches."

"So congratulations to Guangzhou and their organizing committee and congratulations to the Chinese Table Tennis association for hosting such a wonderful event, the ITTF is looking forward to more such wonderful events and supporting our National Associations to help improve them even more."

(Note : Excerpts from ITTF News)