(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
Lin Shidong entered the WTT Champions Macao as the 9th seed, but that did not deter him. Shidong, World No. 13, topped Tomokazu Harimotor (World No. 8), Lin Yun-Ju (World No. 9), Wang Chuqin (World No. 1), and Dang Qiu (World No. 12) on his way to the title. Of those matches, Shidong never trailed – winning the first game in each match and only dropping two games (the second and fourth) to Harimoto. Shidong dominated from start to finish, including a 4-1 Semifinal win, and a 4-0 win in the all-Butterfly sponsored Final featuring Shidong and Dang Qiu. For Dang Qiu, he logged wins over Jonghoon, Falck, Liang Jingkun (World No. 4), and Kao on his path to the Final.
World No. 1 Wang Chuqin may be fading just slightly as this demarks early exits in both the Olympics and the first major tour event since the Olympics. Then again, when you are World No. 1, every exit is an “early” exit. A loss to 19 year old Lin Shidong may mean China is reloading yet again – every time one of their great players retires, they seem to find another rising star to fill that slot on their National Team.
There was a minor upset in Women’s Singles as World No. 8 Miwa Harimoto upset World No. 6 Chen Xingtong. Harimoto fell in the semifinals to eventual winner Sun Yingsha. Yingsha topped Wang Yidi 4-2 in the Final.
The next tour stop is a the WTT Feeder Halmstad (Sweden) which will start tomorrow. Feng Yi-Hsin is the event’s top seed, and Anders Lind, Mattias Falck, and Ruwen Filus are all well-known contenders. The next big event is the China Smash scheduled to begin on September 26th. Like other large “SMASH” events, this one will have 2 million dollars in prize money, and will feature 10 of the World’s Top 12 players at the top of the draw.
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