Tenth-ranked Chinese Hao Shuai crashed out of the men's singles
at the Asian table tennis championships after falling into the same
trap as in the 2005 world championships.
Jun Mizutani, the 18-year-old who helped Japan finish second as
a team on Thursday, used high balls and topspin away from the table
to beat Hao 8-11, 13-15, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6.
Hao, who fell victim to Dane Michael Maze's high ball play in
the Shanghai Worlds, had seemed to be cruising to victory,
especially when he took the second set.
In that set Mizutani led 10-5 and then lost five straight
points.
"I was really very nervous in the first two sets," said
Mizutani. "I served off the end of the table on one occasion in the
second set when I had match point."
Hao, with two sets to his belt, turned to a conservative way of
play in the third set as the ghost of the 2005 world championships
began to haunt him.
"He was becoming nervous and he didn't like the high ball," said
Mizutani, who played a few spectacular high balls to force Hao into
mistakes.
In the sixth set Mizutani went ahead 4-1 and Hao called "Time
Out" to keep the Japanese from running farther away.
At 6-3 ahead Japanese coach Yoshito Miyazaki called "Time Out"
and the break hindered Hao's recovery.
With a 5-3 run, Mizutani rounded up the victory.
"One of Hao Shuai's weaknesses is playing high ball," Chinese
coach Xiao Zhan said after the game.
Earlier this year in China's National Table Tennis Conference,
the Chinese men's head coach Liu Guoliang expressed disappointment
over Hao's performance, saying the Tianjin player had "weak
nerves".
Hao and Liu have been chased by reporters during the Asian
championships for a video clip posted on a popular Internet site,
which caught Liu slapping Hao in the face.
The clip, which can be seen on YouTube, showed the coach hit Hao
twice as the player was immersed in cell phone conversation when
other coaches and players were drinking and chatting by a round
table in an unknown restaurant.
The 48-second clip caused uproar among Chinese netizens, who
posted messages accusing the 31-year-old coach of being rude and
overbearing.
The video started with Chinese coaches Liu and Xiao Zhan
drinking with players Chen Qi and Ma Long, with Hao leaning back on
the chair and talking on cell phone. When Chen called Hao to return
to drinking, Hao snapped back: "Shut up!"
An agitated Liu stood up and slapped Hao in the back of his
head. Then he snatched Hao's phone and slapped him again in the
face.
On Tuesday, Liu denied he had hit Hao, adding the incident
happened in southern Chinese city Sanya last December.
"Hit is a strong word," said Liu. "I didn't hit anyone. I just
stroked Hao Shuai to remind him to show due respect to coaches and
teammates."?
(Xinhua News Agency September 22, 2007)