China confirm 13-member squad for Asian TT C'ships

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The Chinese Table Tennis Association on Wednesday announced the country's 13-member squad for the Asian Table Tennis Championships, with men's singles world No.1 Xu Xin competing across all four categories, and captain Ma Long getting picked for only the men's team event.

The biennial tournament will take place from September 15-22 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, with seven gold medals on offer -- men's singles, women's singles, men's team, women's team, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles.

At the most recent championships in China in 2017, Japan's teenage sensation Miu Hirano, then 17 years old, took the women's singles crown after defeating three of China's most established players -- Ding Ning, Zhu Yuling and Chen Meng -- Xinhua news agency reported.

Having dominated the Asian Championships since the competition's inception in 1972, China are sending its best players to this year's event, with all the country's six female paddlers ranked among the world's top 10 players. Five of the seven male players too feature in the top 10.

World No. 2 Liu Shiwen will play the mixed doubles event alongside her long-time partner Xu Xin, while the other mixed duo of China will see Sun Yingsha team up with Wang Chuqin.

--IANS kk/arm

( 211 Words)

2019-08-14-20:28:05 (IANS)