It was not an easy year for the world of sports, all disciplines suffered the impact of the pandemic of coronavirus and many events had to be canceled, postponed or modified. He table tennis was no exception, but some of its international competitions were able to develop and there are best point of the year.
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) chose as the best point of 2020 one of the Japanese Jun Mizutani, player of 31 years which currently ranks number 16 in the world rankings.
This wonderful point took place in the month of February, at German Open, in the quarterfinals against the Chinese Lin Gaoyuan, one of the best players on the planet, who is now situated in the 4th place in the ITTF men’s ranking.
Mizutani much of the dispute with Lin in a defensive posture, resisting every blow from his opponent, executing low-risk returns and settling for the next impact. But when it seemed that he was going to lose, the Japanese took a fantastic winning shot that left the world speechless.
While Jun Mizutani fell finally eliminated before Lin Gaoyuan, gave battle in that match forcing a seventh game after starting down in the first three sets. The 25-year-old Chinese player won that duel early last year by 11-6, 11-7, 11-8, 11-13, 9-11, 9-11, 11 -6.
“It was a tough game, my opponent was 0-3 down and came back to 3-3. I felt like I was dreaming! I was nervous, but the most important thing in my head was that I could not lose this match and I am glad I won it in the end, “he declared. Lin after that duel that he left best point of 2020.
This year was very atypical for this sport. Only the German Open and that of Hungary –Both in February–, in addition to Qatar Open in March. before the outbreak of the coronavirus. After long months of inactivity due to outbreaks of COVID-19 throughout the world, the entity that regulates this discipline created the ITTF Finals 2020, an event featuring the world’s top-ranked male and female players, which was held in Zhengzhou, China, at the end of last November.
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