Host favorite Ito lucky at the Olympics table tennis game

TOKYO – Japanese Mima Ito was fortunate to avoid a possible confrontation with top-class Chinese Chen Meng before reaching the women’s singles final, as the Olympic table tennis game was played on Wednesday.

The second-largest in the world today, considered the best hope for challenging the hosts to the Olympic table tennis medal alone, is not expected to face strong resistance before the semi-finals, when his opponent could be Jeon Jihee from South Korea.

If Ito made it to the semifinals, he could meet China’s second seed Sun Yingshan, who is in the same quarter with Singapore veteran Fang Tianwei, German Han Yang and Chinese Taipei Chen Szu-Yu.

The first seed, Chen Meng, who does not yet have a World Cup title or Olympic gold in his name, must defeat German Petrissa Solja to reach the semi-finals. Kasumi Ishikawa from Japan and Change I-Ching from Chinese Taipei are also in the same half.

In the men’s singles, world number one Fan Zhendong will be in the same quarter with 2014 European Cup holder Marcos Freitas from Portugal, South Korean Jeoung Youngsik and German veteran Timo Boll, while the top two teenagers Lin Yun-Ju and Tomokazu Harimano are also his

Defending Olympic champion Ma Long is in the second half, featuring Hugo Calderano from Brazil, Jiang Woojin from South Korea, Koki Niwa from Japan, Dimitrij Ovtcharov from Germany, Matters Falck from Sweden, Wong Chen Ting from Hong Kong China and Simon Gauzy from France.

Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen, the top-seed of their mixed debut events at this Olympics, are favorite podium nominees, and their first-round match will be Wang Zhen / Zhang Mo from Canada.

Chinese Hong Kong Wong Chin Ting / Doo Hoi Kem can look forward to a semi-final match with the Chinese duo, while local favorites Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito sit tight in the second half with their best challenge ahead of South Korea’s Lee Sangsu / Jeon Jihee.

The Olympic table tennis competitions will take place at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on Saturday, and team events will not take place until August 1st. The Chinese championship defender will meet Egypt and their female colleagues will face Austria.