BEIJING (China), Nov. 2: German champion Tim Boll is headed for a showdown against Chinese star Kong Linghui in the 2002 table tennis Men’s World Cup singles tournament after beating veteran Zoran Primorac of Croatia 4-3 in the semifinal Saturday.

Boll, who ranked third in the world, fought a seesaw battle 11-9, 5-11, 11-3, 12-14, 1-11 until he took the sixth game 11-4 over the two-time World Cup winner Primorac in China’s northeastern city of Jinan.

As the highest-ranked European player, Boll led in the final game and kept the momentum to 11-8, denying the 33-year-old Croatian’s hope of claiming his third World Cup title.

“It is the first time I play with Primorac. I watched his games and knew how he plays. But I was tired and made some unforced mistakes during the match. Fortunately, I came back in the last two games,” the 21-year-old told the Xinhua news agency after his victory.

Primorac, who was the first player to win two World Cups in ITTF history, said: “I am not disappointed for a 3-4 loss to Boll. He is a new talent from Europe who becomes the biggest threat to the always-strong Asians.”

Suffering from chronic shoulder injury, Olympic and world champion Kong appeared not in his best shape but was good enough to beat the world’s No. 4 Werner Schlager of Austria 4-2 (11-2, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9).

The 27-year-old Chinese said: “It is a surprise victory for me. I’m now at a low tide as I hustled for the Busan Asian Games, Germany Open and Dutch Open last month. I felt very tired before the event.

“My right shoulder injury also hampered me from hitting aggressive and powerful balls. It is lucky to make into the final,” said the sixth-ranked Kong.

Kong came to the event with a wild card, a privilege of the hosts, along with the world’s top two Wang Liqin and Ma Lin. However, both his teammates crashed out from the last eight as Wang was humiliated by Boll 4-0 and Ma was slammed down by Primorac 4-2.

The final will take place in Sunday afternoon.

Results:

Quarterfinal results:

Kong Linghui (Chn) bt Oh Sang-eun (Kor) 4-2 (11-2, 11-9, 10-12, 7-11, 12-10, 14-12); Werner Shlager (Aus) bt Chiang Peng-Lung (Tpe) 4-3 (6-11, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6, 11-6); Timo Boll (Ger) bt Wang Liqin (Chn) 4-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-4,11-6); Zoran Primorac (Cro) bt Ma Lin (Chn) 4-2 (11-9, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8, 10-12,11-9)

Semifinal results:

Kong Linghui (Chn) bt Werner Schlager (Aus) 4-2 (11-2, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9); Timo Boll (Ger) bt Zoran Primorac (Cro) 4-3 (11-9, 5-11,11-3, 12-14, 1-11,11-4, 11-8),—AFP