Play kicked off with the Challenge matches between the three third place getters in Groups 1,2 and 3, and the winner of the Intercontinental Group after the round robin matches.
India’s Manika Batra was first up against Jiang Huajun of Korea, after Batra topped the Intercontinental Group. Her path to the gold medal match stopped there though, as Jiang triumphed and moved into the quarter finals, leaving Batra to play off for positions 9-16.
Jiang’s quarter finals opponent Li Xiaoxia later proved too strong for her though and Jiang will now play Miu Hirano in the play off for positions 5-8.
Tie Yana of Hong Kong defeated Yang Haeun in the other women’s Challenge match, and continued her good form in her next match to defeat Singapore’s Yu Mengu in a marathon effort, 16-14, 11-4, 4-11, 11-6, 7-11, 19-17.
Tie Yana will now face women’s world number one Liu Shiwen in the semi-finals, after Liu defeated Japanese teenage sensation Mima Ito.
The finals action takes place on Saturday.
Ito and Yu will now meet in the playoff for positions 5-8. Feng Tianwei is still in contention to defend her Asian cup title after a spirited battle with Miu Hirano, Feng winning 8-11, 11-3, 6-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-9. Feng will now meet Li Xiaoxia in the semi-final.
The men’s Challenge matches saw India’s Soumyajit Ghosh, the number 13 seed, upset the sixth seed, Korea’s Jung Youngsik 11-6, 7-11, 11-8, 10-12, 11-8. Ghosh will now face off with the experienced veteran Gao Ning.
Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting overcame Chuang Chih Yuan in the other challenge match and will now face Japan’s Jun Mizutani.
The finals will be held on Saturday, with the bronze medal matches commencing at 2pm and the gold medal matches from 3.30 – 5.30pm.
Ping pong fans can get involved in the action with free to play tables provided by Ping Pong Dubai located around the venue. Fans will also have the opportunity to meet the stars at an autograph signing session on Friday and Saturday.
For all the details of the competition schedule and results go to www.ittf.com.
Visit http://attu.org/home for more information about the Nakheel Table Tennis Asian Cup, and #PingPongDubai on Facebook and Instagram for more information about table tennis initiatives and events in Dubai.