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China's Ma Lin (R) reacts during the
final of men's singles against his teammate Wang Hao at the ITTF Pro Tour
Grand Finals in Beijing, capital of China, December 16, 2007. Ma Lin
claimed the title by beating Wang Hao 4-2. (Xinhua Photo/Zhao
Peng)
Photo
Gallery>>> |
BEIJING, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Top seeded Chinese Ma Lin lifted the table tennis year-ending trophy here on Sunday after beating compatriot Wang Hao 4-2 in the men's singles final.
The 27-year-old Ma revenged on Wang with the 12-10,
11-9, 10-12,11-8, 5-11, 11-9 victory at the ITTF ProTour Finals after his fall
on both the ITTF world rankings and his title defending campaign in October's
World Cup.
Also he pocketed the 38,000 US dollars prize money
for singles winner, plus a new Magaton by Volkswagen, the Title Sponsor of the
event held in the Olympic venue of Beijing University Gymnasium on Dec. 13-16.
Ma, standing on the second position next to Wang Hao
in the latest released world rankings, romped to lead 7-3 before taking the
opening set 12-10 with powerful top-spin shots.
He remained in high to pull back five points in a row
after opening the second set with 0-2 down before tying it for three times to
7-7 and improving it to 11-9.
Wang Hao managed to come back in the third and fifth
sets against the anxious Ma, but failed to match the master on serve and
receiving who had been a quartet World Cup title holder before losing to Wang
two month ago.
Ma Lin's victory turned to be an even more
extraordinary one as the Olympic doubles winner in Athens failed in Sunday's
pre-match examination on racket. The referees said Ma's racket was unqualified
with thicker sponge and too much solvent-based speed glue.
He had to use Wang Hao's racket to beat Ma Long in
the afternoon's semifinals and again fix his own racket with Wang's sponge
before evening's doubles and singles finals.
Earlier in the semis, Wang Hao had beaten off reigning world champion Wang Liqin with a surprisingly easy win, 11-9, 11-7, 5-11,11-5, 11-7.
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