Jo and Kelly very close to taking a 2-1 lead

Day three of the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals started with the English pairing – no. one Jo Parker and no. two Kelly Sibley in action against the no. four seeds – Wang Yeugu / Li Jiawei  (Singapore) and they eventually succumbed 4-1, no mean performance against two of the 2010 World Team Champions.

However, this was one of those games where the British pairing will be a touch disappointed with the outcome.  Jo and Kelly led 9-4 and 10-5 in the third end but agonisingly they could not secure victory. A time-out at 10-8 didn’t help and they eventually lost the third game 13-11. The chance of winning had gone and the Singapore stars raced through the fourth and fifth games 11-4, 11-3.

English Coach Alan Cooke was typically philosophical in defeat – “It was a good performance overall – every single point counts against World class opposition”.

The other early quarter-final featured four of the Worlds best players – Chinese super stars – the top seeds Gue Yue and Li Xiaoxia and Jiang Huajun and Tie Yana (Hong Kong) ranked no. 10 and 12 in the World respectively. Rallies were predictably fast and furious and it was the Chinese aces who came out on top 4-1 (11-9, 11-4, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9). Guo Yue’s doubles  record is well worth commenting on.  Since she first played in a Pro Tour at the age of 13 she has won an incredible 34 Pro Tour and Pro Tour Grand Finals Ladies Doubles titles.

Ian Marshall, the ITTF Information guru – summed her effectiveness up: “ Guo is left-handed and there is no one better at getting in first than her. Once she has done her work her partner can angle it away.”

Steve Kerns