February 12, 2023 (by Steve Hopkins)



Seventeen year old Lin Shidong continued his path up the World Rankings on Sunday when the World No. 37 Chinese player won the WTT Contender series event in Amman, Jordan.  Shidong’s path to the Final included a 3-0 win over Tiago Apolonia, a  3-0 win over Liam Pitchford, a 3-2 win over Xu Haidong, and a 3-0 Semifinal Win over last week’s WTT winner Xu Yingbin.

Waiting for him in the Finals was World No. 11 Dimitrij Ovtcharov, and it was not close.   Shidong build a lead in the first game and held on for an 11-7 win.  He dominated the second game 11-3.  Ovtcharov fought back in the third game to keep the score close – but Shidong pulled out the 13-11 win to go up 3-0.  And in the final game, it was Shidong again pulling ahead at the end to win 11-8 and secure the 4-0 win.

Butterfly player, Lin Shidong, is on a fast track to the Top 20 (at the age of 17) – and the strongest team in the world appears ready to reload with yet another superstar.  Shidong uses a custom Butterfly ALC blade and Dignics 09c.

Mima Ito was the main story in the Women’s Singles Event.  She entered as the top seed, and aside from a tight 3-2 win in the Round of 16 against Cheng I-Ching, she sailed through the draw.  Ito topped Sofia Polcanova 3-0 in the Semifinals and then dominated Doo Hoi Kem 4-0 in the Final.

The Men’s Doubles title went to Xu Yingbin and Liu Yebo, the Women’s title went to the Taipei team of Cheng I-Ching and Li Yu-Jhun, and Mixed Doubles went to Lin Shidong and Kuai Man.

The next WTT event is the WTT Feeder Dusseldorf that starts on Tuesday in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Visit ButterflyOnline.com for the latest table tennis news and results.




Source: Butterfly Online | Butterfly Table Tennis