Table tennis: Third time's the charm as Sun Yingsha wins WTT Cup Finals in S'pore

SINGAPORE - Touted as China's new wave of table tennis stars, Sun Yingsha was set for the big leagues after winning the Youth Olympic Games singles gold in 2018.

While two big losses at the Olympics and world championships were a setback for the 21-year-old, the third time was the charm for the world No. 2 on Tuesday (Dec 7) as she beat teammate Wang Yidi 4-2 (11-3, 17-15, 11-6, 7-11, 6-11, 11-8) to win the inaugural World Table Tennis Cup Finals in Singapore.

Sun said the key to victory was remaining upbeat and confident despite consecutive defeats by world No. 1 Chen Meng and Wang Manyu at the Tokyo Olympics and last week's World Table Tennis (WTT) Championships in Houston.

She said: "You must have faith in yourself and continue looking forward. I know that there are still chances to win but first, I have to have confidence in myself and take it one step at a time while doing each one well.

"I did a lot of preparation expecting a tough match and I'm very happy to win. Now I just want to focus on resting and no matter what competitions I take part in next year, I'll do my best in all of them."

Buoyed by a 900-strong sell-out crowd at the OCBC Arena, Sun started the match strong to win the first game convincingly, before claiming the next two. With Sun leading 3-0, Wang turned on the attack, forcing Sun into unforced errors as the world No. 6 claimed the next two games to close the gap to 3-2.

But Sun held on to clinch the 4-2 victory and title - her second in Singapore after the T2 Diamond event in 2019. She paid tribute to Wang and also thanked the crowd for giving her strength with their cheers and applause.

Sun said: "This was a very intense and exciting match. We're teammates and know each other very well. The second game was crucial for me but when I was 3-0 up, Wang Yidi changed her game play and slowed the tempo down and I had some difficulty adjusting.

"She's a great player and has good power and skills. She also has the drive to win and it was a good match overall."

While most of the players had to cope with jet lag caused by a 14-hour time difference after flying straight from Houston, Sun said: "I cherish every opportunity to compete, especially in these circumstances. For there to be competitions for us, I'm very happy and I really cherish each one.

"The crowd here was very welcoming and passionate. They gave us a lot of strength and I'm very thankful for the atmosphere."

Newly crowned men's world champion Fan Zhendong made it a clean sweep for China as the world No. 1 won the men's singles with a convincing 4-1 (11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5) victory over Japanese world No. 5 Tomokazu Harimoto.

Fan, 24, was pleased with his back-to-back titles, saying: "Having won these two competitions for the first time, it feels really nice. At the same time, both competitions had a different vibe to them and they helped me in different ways to see clearer what I'm can work on from next year."

He also praised Harimoto's determination and fighting spirit, adding: "It was a difficult and intense match, especially in the first few games. He caused some difficulties for me and I feel there were places I could've done better. But from the third game, I had more drive to win and managed to find some solutions so I did better.

"He's a good player so I prepared the best I could and he pushed very hard against me so I'm glad I could win."

Harimoto, 18, said: "Fan Zhendong is a great player with great skills and it was difficult for me to win points. It's encouraging for me to be able to reach the final and I will continue doing my best next year to improve further and win more."

After a two-year hiatus, international table tennis action returned to Singapore this month with the four-day tournament, which boasted a prize purse of US$600,000 (S$820,800).

Almost 700 accredited personnel for the event were subject to regular antigen rapid tests and players remained in a bubble while in Singapore, among other Covid-19 protocols.

One operation staff member returned a positive test, said a WTT statement.

The statement added: "This person is feeling well with no symptoms and is currently in self-isolation according to the local regulations. WTT has taken all the necessary counter-measures against Covid-19, therefore there was no impact on the event.

"WTT will remain in touch with that person to ensure their well-being."