In what turned out to be an epic battle last night the Japanese Women’s team progressed to the semi finals of the Word Teams championships by defeating Korea 3 – 2.

It is a teams match that lasted some 5 hours with all but the last match going to 5 sets. With two defenders in the Korean team that just makes for a long, long game of Table Tennis.

This unlikely quarter final match up was set up due to Koreas group match loss to Hong Kong giving them a number 2 position in their group instead of the number 1 position that they were expected to fill.

It was interesting to watch the defensive skills of the Korean numbers 1 and 2 and the patience of the Japanese attacking players. As I had other duties on the day and couldn’t devote 5 hours to spectating, I managed to get a mere glimpse of about one and a half hours of the match which was the end of Ai Fukuhara playing Kim Kyung Ah and most of the third match of the tie between the two attacking players, Koreas Dang Ye Seo and the Japanese Kasumi Ishikawa.

In match Fukuhara pushed the ball around looking for opportunities to get the strong attack that would give her the point. The Korean made plenty of attacks to keep Fukuhara away from the attack. Especially in crucial points it was Korea’s Kim that made third ball attacks to great effect. This can be a real weapon for a defender as the attacker may not be expecting this move. It won her a lot of points. The Korean took a timeout late in the first game. The next point she served long and fast to the backhand and followed it up with a strong forehand attack. She ultimately won a tight first game and gained the advantage. An advantage that was to prove crucial in the 5 set victory to get the teams back to level at 1 – 1.

The third match between the two attackers was an interesting battle in itself. The Korean, Dang, going out to a 2 – 0 lead only to be pegged back by Ishikawa and another 3 – 2 scoreline and gave Japan the vital third match of the tie. So how did the turn around occur? The game doesn’t need much to change at this level. The Korean went from playing strong attacking drives especially on her forehand side to being just a little bit tentative which was enough for the Japanese player to stay in the rallies a little longer and win more of those points. It is a matter of small degrees. In the first two sets the Korean was playing brilliant forehands especially down the line to the left handers forehand that was positioning her out of the rally. However as soon as those forehands became a little weaker the opportunity arose for Ishikawa. It is never that easy to win these big matches. The prize a semi final berth and certain World Championship medal, for the loser the prospect of playing in the adjoining hall away form the crowds for mere placings… not what the plan had set down. It really showed on the Koreans game at the end, tentative and unable to maintain the high standards she had set early in the match.

Even though the Russian crowd was getting restless because it was their beloved Men’s team that was due on the court next, they were still captivated by the battle. Out in the tunnel in the players area, waiting for the match the Russian Men’s team sat patiently chatting as I went past, over the period of several hours.

On the adjoining court the Mens match of China vs Belarus had long gone. The organiser saw an opportunity at the end of the 3rd match between Japan and Korea to start the following Women’s teams match of China vs The Netherlands. This too was to finish before the epic Japan Korea match.

Defensive long games can be interesting for our game. It certainly captured the imagination of all those at the hall last night.

As we left for the night ready for some dinner, the Men’s teams of Russia and Germany took to the table. A battle that ended with a win to Germany 3 – 0.