The 45th World Championships Through The Eye Of The Video Camera

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The 45th World Championships Through The Eye Of The Video Camera

BY GARY RUDERMAN, Owner-Producer, Reflex Sports

PART 3 of 5

There were a number of exciting matchups in the Round of 16. The tournament committee's schedule allows us to capture the best of this round. In the first Waldner-Legout game, Waldner uses his unmatched precision and skill to dismantle Legout at 13. In the second, Legout starts out strongly to take a 6-1 lead, and prevails at 18 with a strong block of a Waldner kill. In the third game, Waldner goes into his no-nonsense mode to take a 9-6 lead, then 19-16, and 21-19 to win. Legout will not give in as he displays a newfound shoot-from-the-hip confidence. He pulls out all stops with a running backhand kill to advance to 18-16, winning 21-16. In Game 5, Waldner is down 6-7 as Legout continues to take aggressive shots. Waldner, however, uses his finesse to tie the game at 10. Legout keeps trying impossible backhand running kills, but now is missing. Waldner unleashes his best serves to take five points in a row. Legout gets into a countering game where he can prevail. Legout serves and kills his way back to 13, but that's as far as he can get. Despite some acrobatic points and backhand kills, Waldner continues to dispense his patented serves to prevail at 21-14.

Samsonov, presently number one in the World and the tournament top seed, meets an inspired Ma Lin. The first game is tightly fought until 11-11, but Samsonov then pulls ahead with his copyright style to prevail at 15. Ma returns the favor in the second, breezing at 21-13. The next game is closer as they get to 17-17, 18-18, then 21-18 as Ma pulls ahead two games to one. Samsonov, knowing that he has to change gears if he is to retain his ranking, comes out firing, going ahead 7-3. Ahead at 13, he discovers his famous high toss and follow routine does not work with Ma Lin, and he finds himself down 13-16. Ma takes Samsonov's best loop kills and blocks them for winners, resulting in a commanding 18-13 lead. Ma finally counters a Samsonov loop to win at 16. At this point in the tournament we haven't seen anyone who can play at the level Ma is displaying. We have learned, however, that until the players match up one-on-one, it's impossible to tell how their styles will affect the results.

Jean-Michel Saive manages to win Game 1 at 17 against Kim Taek Soo. The second game is an athletic head-to-head slugfest between two of the most power-loaded athletes in table tennis. The game goes Kim's way as he keeps counter punching to win at 17. Saive bounces back into overdrive to bang his way to a 21-11 win in the third. Kim decides it's his turn now, and proves it at 14. In the deciding Game 5, Kim shows his best, leaping around the court with one penhold power-loop after another. Before his initial flurry is over, the score is 10-2, on the way to a 21-10 victory.

Yan Sen takes the first game at 16 against a resurgent Persson. Persson must have gotten some advice at that point from Waldner, who, down 3-11 in his first game against Yan in the Semi-Finals in Manchester, fought back to a straight game victory. Persson wins the next two games at 13 and 17. He discovers a chink in Yan's armor and keeps pushing to the backhand and following with a kill. Yan gets into his serve-kill mode, and wins the fourth at 17. In spite of the loss, the game produces two great highlight points won by Persson. In Game 5, Persson goes back to what works for him, and stays ahead to take the game at 14, and the match at 3-2.

France's favorite table tennis son, '93 World Champion Jean-Philippe Gatien, meets '96 Olympic champion Liu Guoliang. Against the background of Papa Gatien's famous horn, Gatien off-the-bounce kills his way to a 17-14 lead. A subsequent point shows some back-from-the-table lobs and finishes with a wild backhand kill. The final score of this game is 21-15. In Game 2, Gatien fires up a strong loop, going to 6-0. Liu methodically fights his way back, taking the game to 22-21. A smash by Liu sends Gatien skidding on his rear to the barrier, to give Liu the game at 23-21. Things only get worse for Gatien in the last two games, as Liu's block and smash tactics prevail over Gatien's loop, giving Liu the match at 17 and 14.

Early rounds Men's Singles

Quarter Finals

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