Liu Jia Causes the 1st Upset in the Sinkiang Women’s World Cup
September 29, 2006

Courtesy ITTF Twenty-four year old Liu Jia of Austria was the player to cause the biggest surprise on the morning of the first day of play, Friday, September 29, 2006, at the Sinkiang Women’s World Cup in Urumqi China. The reigning European champion, Liu Jia beat the number four seed, China’s Li Xiaoxia, in seven games in the opening contest in Group Four and she did it the hard way. She trailed by three games to one before recovering to capture four in a row and emerge the winner.

Liu Jia won 11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-6.

Previous Experience
"We’ve never met before in a competitive match", said Liu Jia. "I’d played her once previously but that was in a friendly match, it was best of five games and on that occasion I won the first two games but then lost the next three."

The match in question was the contest the Austrians staged immediately prior to the Liebherr World Team Championships in Bremen in March 2006."

Confidence
"The fact that I’d come so close against her when we played in Austria gave me confidence, I felt in a good frame of mind before we played today", said Liu Jia. "I was in good shape but I didn’t make a very good start, I won the first game and then lost the next three, I was struggling."

It was time for a re-think and time to make some changes. "My level of play at that stage was not that good, I changed my strategy", explained Liu Jia. "In the three games that I’d lost I had played too fast, that policy wasn’t working." She was making errors and she needed to be more consistent, she needed to find a way to exert pressure on her opponent.

Slow Down
"I decided to slow down and play with more spin, less speed", Liu Jia explained. "My form got better and better and I’m not sure that Li Xiaoxia was that comfortable, I don’t think she likes playing left-handers."

Left Handed Theory
Liu Jia gained in confidence and perhaps she has a point about Li Xiaoxia and left-handers.

Like Liu Jia, Italy’s Nicoletta Stefanova is also left-handed and she has two wins to her credit over Li Xiaoxia on the ITTF Pro Tour. The Italian won in 2004 at the Austrian Open and in 2005 at the Liebherr German Open.

However, if you want to confound the theory, Li Xiaoxia did win the win the Women’s Singles event at the Volkswagen Open China in Shenzhen in September 2005 and the player she beat in the final was Guo Yue; the highest ranked left-hander in the world!

There again, Guo Yue is a colleague of Li Xiaoxia, she knows her style well, so has the Liu Jia left handed theory got real merit?

Skirt
Victory for Liu Jia and she leads the fashion stakes; she’s the one player wearing a skirt and of course looks very attractive.

"Butterfly, my sponsor, offered the skirt and so I wear it", said Liu Jia. "I wear a skirt most times now, I like it, I feel comfortable." Undoubtedly, she does feel comfortable, she wore the skirt in a crucial match and surely that sends a message to the female sporting world, you can compete at a high level and look feminine.

No Surprise
Success for Liu Jia in Group Four and a surprise result; however, in the second match that group there were no shocks.

The defensive skills of Kim Kyung Ah prevailed against Karen Li, the Oceania Women’s Singles champion. Kim Kyung Ah won 11-6, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7.