China’s Girls too Strong for Romania
December 12, 2007

Girls Team Finals:
1st Place: China, 2nd Place: Romania, 3rd Place: Korea & Poland

Courtesy of ITTF

For the fifth time in a row, China is the winner of the Girls’ Team event at the World Junior Table Tennis Championships. The girls coached by Qi Baoxiang won 3-0 against Romania.

The efforts of the Romanians were not rewarded. Elizabeta Samara led 2-0 against Li Xiaodan but could not bring her team back on track.

Samara: "First leading then dying"
Elizabeta Samara was rather calm after the final and praised the quality of the Chinese players. "When it’s 8-8 or 9-9 they always do something and often they also have the luck on their side."

And what is the Chinese secret? "When you are behind it is very important that you believe in yourself", Li Xiaodan revealed.

The match against Li was doubtless of high importance for the Romanian team. After Samara had lost, the way for the Girls’ Team title was open for China. Samara reflected: "First I was leading then I was dying."

Chinese Girls’ Dominance and Tactic Tricks
The girls from China are dominant since the very first edition of the World Junior Championships in 2003 in Santiago de Chile. They are still unbeaten and only lost one match in Palo Alto in the quarter-final against Japan.

The final however was not an easy walk. Beside Samara, Irina Hoza also played five games against Wen Jia. Hoza’s nomination was not expected at all. "I rotate all of my players as they can all play", Romania’s coach Elena Sebe explained, "and I also wanted to surprise the Chinese a bit."

The coach’s move was almost successful because Wen Jia had many troubles with Irina Hoza’s service. The Chinese coach Qi Boaxiang also had a big influence on the match. "We changed the tactics after Li Xiaodan lost the first two games against Samara", Boaxiang said with a touch of pride. "We knew that speed is our advantage."