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TEAMUSA WOMEN: Our women’s team has had their struggles in the Championship Division. That was totally expected – as the Championship Division is filled with strong squads and their group (Group D) includes Hong Kong, PRKorea, Austria, Russia, US (as 5th seed) and Sweden.

Thus far, Team USA is 0-3 with two matches remaining: top seed Hong Kong, and sixth seed Sweden. Hong Kong is undefeated in the group, so that will be an especially challenging match. Sweden is also 0-3, and winning that match could be enough to ensure that TeamUSA will stay in the Championship Division.

Schedule:
USA v. Hong Kong (Table 1, 10a, March 1) – Watch live at Paddle Palace at 9p EST tonight (Feb 29).

USA v. Sweden (Table 6, 10a, March 2) – Watch live at Paddle Palace at 9p EST on Mar 1st.

Wang Chen’s debut at the Worlds was one of the early high points for TeamUSA.  She defeated World No 77 Youngsook Park of PRKorea 3-0.  Wang Chen, who has been in retirement for two years showed she can still be one of the best – as she anchors the otherwise very young US team.

The team’s loss to Austria was 0-3, but it was much closer than the score.  Wang Chen traded games with Sofia Polcanova – losing the last game 14-12.  Lily Zhang won the first two games over Liu Jia before losing the final three.  And Jiaqi Zheng had a 2-1 lead over Li Qiangbing before losing the final two games.

The match against Russia was also 0-3.  Russia started strong across the board, winning the first game in all three matches, closing the tie out at 3-2, 3-1, 3-1.

Go HERE to watch all the matches of the 2016 Perfect World Team Table Tennis Championships.

 

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