England’s campaign at the 2013 World Championships came to a close with Andrew Baggaley and Daniel Reed’s Men’s Doubles defeat to the Chinese pair of Wang Liqin and Zhou Yu.
The draw against the second seeds was always likely to be tough and, despite a good effort from the English boys, they were no match for their Chinese opponents.
With the season over domestically for most of the players too, focus will now turn to summer training in order to prepare for the next campaign.
– Tuesday –
England’s players missed out in the World Championships singles first round as all five remaining players were defeated on day three in Paris, France.
There was agony for both Liam Pitchford and Joanna Parker who were only denied victory right at the end of their respective ties.
Pitchford, known for his giant-killing performances, recovered from 3-1 down against the host nation France’s Damien Eloi (world rank 91) only to see victory slip from his fingers in the seventh game.
Having gained momentum in games five and six, which he won 11-2 and 11-5, he was neck-and-neck with the Frenchman until the final blows of the match before he was finally defeated agonisingly 11-9.
In a similar vein, Parker missed out on her international-best result after narrowly losing to Germany’s Irene Ivancan (56) in the deciding game.
After forcing her illustrious opponent into a seventh game, Parker managed to lead her fellow defender 5-1. However, with her lead clipped to 9-8, she was unable to stop Ivancan from winning the final three points to snatch the victory late on.
The other trio of English players has less dramatic defeats at the hands of their respective opponents. Andrew Baggaley managed one game against Kim Minseok (KOR, 36), while neither Daniel Reed or Kelly Sibley could register against Kenta Matsudaira (JPN, 58) or Liu Shiwen (CHN, 2) respectively.
In a disappointing day there was also defeat for Pitchford and Sibley at the hands of Romanian duo Ovidiu Ionescu and Bernadette Szocs despite the English pair establishing an early 2-0 lead. There was also a final nail in the coffin late on Wednesday as Parker and Sibley were beaten 4-1 in their Doubles first round match against Petra Lovas and Szandra Pergel.
Liebherr 2013 World Championship Wednesday Result:
Men’s Doubles:
Wang Liqin/Zhou Yu (CHN) bt Andrew Baggaley/Daniel Reed 4-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-8, 11-4)
Tuesday Results
Men’s Singles:
Damien Eloi (FRA, 91) bt Liam Pitchford (119) 4-3 (11-7, 11-7, 12-14, 11-9, 2-11, 5-11, 11-9)
Kenta Matsudaira (JPN, 58) bt Daniel Reed (234) 4-0 (11-7, 11-3, 11-7, 11-8)
Kim Minseok (KOR, 36) bt Andrew Baggaley (145) 4-1 (9-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9)
Women’s Singles:
Irene Ivanca (GER, 56) bt Joanna Parker (138) 4-3 (5-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-5, 10-12, 11-5, 11-9)
Liu Shiwen (CHN, 2) bt Kelly Sibley (229) 4-0 (11-3, 11-2, 11-1, 11-8)
Women’s Doubles:
Petra Lovas/Szandra Pergel (HUN) bt Joanna Parker/Kelly Sibley 4-1 (11-6, 11-5, 10-12, 12-10, 11-4)
Mixed Doubles:
Ovidiu Ionescu/Bernadette Szocs (ROU) bt Liam Pitchford/Kelly Sibley 4-2 (3-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7)