May 26, 2003	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23,1424

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PARIS, May 25: Austria’s Werner Schlager won the men’s singles title at the table tennis world championships here on Sunday to record Europe’s first success in the blue riband event since Sweden’s Jan-Ove Waldner won in 1997.

The 30-year-old number six seed defeated Korea’s 61st seed Joo Se-Hyuk 4-1.

The bronze medal winner at the 1999 championships had booked his ticket to the final with a seven-set semifinal win over double Olympic champion Kong Linghui earlier on Sunday.

The right-handed attacking player was bringing the trophy home to Austria for only the second occasion in the event’s 77-year history.

Schlager’s defeat of Kong in the semifinal earlier left China without a representative in the men’s final for the first time in six years.

Joo had come through against Greece’s Kalinikos Kreanga.

The sell-out Bercy crowd were treated to a fascinating clash of styles between Schlager’s right-handed attack against Joo’s elegant defensive strokes.

Never in his wildest dreams Joo said had he expected to be walking out for the final of a world championships yet he displayed no visible signs of tension as he parried each top spin fired at him, often having to scoop the ball virtually off the floor with his back hand slice.

But it was his 30-year-old opponent, his right knee sporting a black bandage as it has throughout the tournament, who took the opening two sets, with Joo only drawing first blood in the third.

Schlager is renowned as having one of the best serves in the business, at the point of delivery adopting a stance akin to Rodin’s the Thinker with his head hunched in concentration over the ball as if he was inspecting it for dust.

Schlager’s win prevented a third consecutive clean sweep of championship golds for China.

The women’s doubles final earlier saw Wang Nan win an unprecedented third gold medal.

Results:

Men’s singles:

Final: Werner Schlager (Austria) beat Joo Se-hyuk (South Korea) 4-2 (11-9, 11-6, 6-11, 12-10, 8-11, 12-10).

Semifinals: Werner Schlager (Austria) beat Kong Linghui (China) 4-3 (11-9, 7-11, 12-10, 11-8, 8-11, 7-11, 14-12); Joo Se-hyuk (South Korea) beat Kalinikos Kreanga (Greece) 4-1 (11-5, 3-11, 11-7, 11-8, 12-10).

Women’s doubles:

Final: Wang Nan/Zhang Yining (China) beat Niu Jianfeng/Guo Yue (China) 4-1 (11-7, 11-7, 7-11, 11-2, 14-12).

Semifinals: Wang Nan/Zhang Yining (China) beat Suk Eun-mi/Lee Eun-sil (South Korea) 4-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-8, 11-5); Niu Jianfeng/Guo Yue (China) beat Li Jia/Li Ju (China) 4-1 (11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 16-14, 16-14).—AFP/Reuters