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Sports / China
High ball woes continue as Hao Shuai crashes out
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-22 14:55
YANGZHOU - 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."
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