PARIS, 26 May 2003 — Austria’s Werner Schlager won the men’s singles title at the table tennis world championships here yesterday to record Europe’s first success in the blue riband event since Sweden’s Jan-Ove Waldner won in 1997.
The 30-year-old number six seed defeated Korea’s 61st seed Joo Se-Hyuk 4-1 (11-9, 11-6, 6-11, 12-10, 8-11, 12-10).
The bronze medal winner at the 1999 championships had booked his ticket to the final with a seven set semifinal victory over double Olympic champion Kong Linghui earlier yesterday.
The right-handed attacking player was bringing the trophy home to Austria for only the second occasion in the event’s 77-year history. Schlager’s defeat of Kong in the semifinal earlier left China without a representative in the men’s final for the first time in six years.
Joo, 22, who plays a defensive game, had come through against Greece’s Kalinikos Kreanga. The sell-out Bercy crowd were treated to a fascinating clash of styles between Schlager’s right-handed attack against Joo’s elegant defensive strokes.
Never in his wildest dreams Joo said had he expected to be walking out for the final of a world championships yet he displayed no visible signs of tension as he parried each top spin fired at him, often having to scoop the ball virtually off the floor with his back hand slice.
But it was his 30-year-old opponent, his right knee sporting a black bandage as it has throughout the tournament, who took the opening two sets, with Joo only drawing first blood in the third.
The women’s doubles final earlier saw Wang Nan win an unprecedented third gold medal. With her close friend Zhang Yining the singles and mixed doubles champion saw off compatriots Niu Jianfeng and the teenager Guo Yue 4-1 (11-7, 11-7, 7-11, 11-2, 14-12).
