China to miss women's singles final
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-09-02 15:42

World number two NiuJianfeng lost 4-2 to Lau Sui Fei from Hong Kong, China here on Friday to hand out a 15th gold chase for China in the women's singles event at the Asian table tennis championship.

The defending champion, a sole quarter-final surviver of China as Guo Yue and Guo Yan were ousted, was beaten 4-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-8, 4-11, 12-10 to miss the final, after the 13th-ranked Lau snatched down Guo Yue 4-3 in an unexpected quarter-final win and Guo Yan suffered a 4-2 defeat to former Chinese international Lin Ling, now playing for Hong Kong team.

Trailing 3-1 on sets, the top seed here came back to take the fifth set 11-4 with a 7-2 run as she played smart to move Lau around the table.

The fifth set win gave the 24-year-old a silver-line but did not guarantee a performance comeback. Niu called a timeout herself when down 4-1 and smashed to narrowly cut the deficit to 6-4 before launching a 3-1 run to tie on 7-all.

Giving up a point to Lau with a striking wide, Niu again leveled it on 8-8 before she backhanded the ball kissing the net to grand the Hong Kong player two match points on 10-8.

Niu saved two points to force a tie-breaker using forehanded errors from the opponent, but was beaten by Lau's top-spin play asshe twice struck long.

It will be the first time in 31 years for China to miss a women' s singles final at the biennial tournament.

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