The Taiwanese table tennis duo of Chuang Chih-yuan and Peng Wang-wei on Saturday crashed out of the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis Contender Muscat.
Chuang and Peng lost to the Chinese pairing of Lin Shidong and Xiang Peng 3-0 at Sultan Qaboos Sport Complex in Oman’s capital.
The Taiwanese team, led by the 40-year-old Chuang, also known as the “Godfather of Taiwanese table tennis,” fell behind in the opening game 11-7, before rallying to tie the second game 8-8. The comeback was short-lived, as Lin and Xiang unleashed a series of attacks to pocket the second game 11-9.
Photo: CNA
Chuang and Peng fired off four points at the start of the third game, before the Chinese pair took off on a 5-0 run.
Although the Taiwanese found the equalizer, Lin and Xiang caused Peng to make forced errors by hitting the ball close to his body. The strategy allowed them to earn another five points, before Chuang made an error on a return and the Taiwanese conceded the game 11-5.
Chuang and Peng defeated India’s Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai 3-2 in the round-of-16 on Wednesday, before defeating the Indian duo of Manush Utpalbhai Shah and Manav Vikash Thakkar 3-1 in the quarter-finals on Thursday.
Jakub Dyjas of Poland and Cedric Nuytinck of Belgium forfeited their semi-final matchup.
The WTT Contender Muscat, held Feb. 27 to Saturday, carried a total purse of US$75,000.
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