TT pair Mu/Gu topple women's world top four to win Chinese National Games

TIANJIN, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese table tennis talent Mu Zi and little known Gu Yuting paired up to make their invincible cruise, beating world champions Ding Ning/Liu Shiwen and runners-up Chen Meng/Zhu Yuling in a row to win the women's doubles title at Chinese National Games here on Tuesday.

Ding, Liu, Chen and Zhu are the world's top four players in the women's singles rankings, but they could not be as dominant as they were in singles play when pairing up, especially in the daunting National Games.

The reigning world champions lost to PLA-Shandong pairing Mu/Gu 4-1 by 11-7, 5-11, 7-11, 8-11 and 7-11 in 48 minutes in the semifinal during the morning session before world runners-up Chen/Zhu suffered the same 4-1 defeat in 7-11, 8-11, 10-12, 11-8 and 6-11 in the final in 56 minutes.

Mu is the women's doubles winner four years ago and Gu attributed their victory to Mu. "I relied on Mu a lot in competition and she can tell me what to do when I lose my rhythm," said the 22-year-old Gu.

"We have been sticking to closed-door training prior to and during the National Games. Now I think I can treat her a big dinner outside," added Gu.

The Beijing-Guangdong pairing of Ding/Liu, who won the World Championships in Duesseldorf, Germany in April after outlasting teammates Chen/Zhu in a seven-game showdown, were bothered by the crammed schedule on singles, doubles, mixed and team competitions.

They were somehow consoled with a bronze medal in the evening after beating Shandong-Hubei pairing Liu Gaoyang/Feng Yalan in a close best-of-five-game competition by 11-2, 9-11, 11-6, 11-13 and 11-9.

Liu, world No. 4, who managed to go through Shanxi's chopper Wu Yang in the 83-minute seven-game duel in singles quarterfinal on Monday night, complained about her tight schedule and over physical consumption in the tournament.

"I feel depleted physically today. It's hard for me to move around as I hoped during the doubles," 26-year-old Liu, who was selected to China's squad to win the team competition at Rio Olympics last year.

"I don't think I performed what I'm capable of. I kind of underestimated my opponents," added Liu, who'll play singles semifinal on Wednesday.

Ding, world No. 1 and Rio Olympics singles champion, was not disappointed with her bronze medal. "I'm quite satisfied with what I have made so far in the National Games. Though it's not a gold medal, it's already my best performance in the Games, and also being able to advance into the singles last four, it's another my best," said 27-year-old Ding, who is to play Zhu Yuling, world No. 3, in singles semifinal on Wednesday.

"The National Games is even tougher than the World Championships for you have to face tougher opponents and you have to play under tougher schedule," added Ding.

In the men's doubles, the pairing of world No. 1 Ma Long and No. 3 Xu Xin were no match to PLA pair Fan Zhendong/Zhou Yu in a seven-game showpiece match. The Beijing-Shanghai pair lost the match 14-16, 11-9, 13-11, 8-11, 8-11, 11-1 and 9-11 in 87 minutes. Enditem