Winner in Kuwait two days ago, Zhang Jike alongside his Chinese National Team colleagues Ma Long, Xu Xin and Fan Zhendong are all on duty at the ITTF World Tour Qatar Open beginning today at the Al Sadd Club. Once again they occupy the top four seeded positions in the Men’s Singles event.
Ma Long is the top seed, with Fan Zhendong, Xu Xin and Zhang Jike being the next in line.
Of the four, Xu Xin has won the Men’s Singles titles on no less than three occasions. He won in 2011 when he beat Germany’s Timo Boll in the final; he retained the title the following year at the final expense of colleague, Wang Hao, before regaining the crown in 2014 when he accounted for Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan in the gold medal contest.
The burning question is can Xu Xin make it one more and become the most successful male ever in the history of the ITTF World Tour Qatar Open.
Currently he stands alongside Croatia’s Zoran Primorac and his now retired compatriot, Wang Liqin, as players who have won the Men’s Singles title on three occasions.
Primorac, now 47 years old, who was due to compete this year but has been forced to withdraw owing to a knee injury, won on three consecutive occasions. He won in 1998, 1999 and in 2001; the tournament was not held in 2000.
Notably in 1998 he beat Sweden’s Jan-Ove Waldner in the final, before on each of the next two occasions, accounting for Korea’s Kim Taeksoo to claim gold.
Meanwhile, Wang Liqin won in 2005 and 2006, beating colleague, Ma Lin, in the final on both occasions, before regaining the title in 2010 when he overcame Zhang Jike to claim the top prize. Pertinently, it is the only occasion when Zhang Jike has reached the Men’s Singles final in Qatar. It is a feat Fan Zhendong has yet to achieve.
Vladimir Samsonov, the no.8 seed, meanwhile hopes to be three-time winner.
One year ago he beat Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the final to claim the title, having won it earlier in 2003 at the expense of Russia’s Alexey Smirnov.