At the world cup, a team consists of three members playing best of five singles matches.
After recording wins against South Korea and Iran while suffering a defeat to Singapore, the women’s team of Sarah de Nutte, Ni Xia Lian, and Tessy Gonderenger had to win against Thailand on Monday in order to qualify for the knock-out stage of the competition.
In the first round, de Nutte clearly beat Orawan Paranang 3-0. Next up was Lian, who was only slightly shaken during one of the sets of her encounter. Nevertheless, she beat Jinnipa Sawettabut 3-1. The third round then saw Gonderinger face off with Wanwisa Aueawiriyayothin, who got the better of the Luxembourgish athlete after four sets.
At the overall score of 2-1 in favour of Luxembourg, Lian was thus forced to step up again and play against Paranang. The Luxembourgish table tennis player won the first set 11-5. The second one went to Thailand, the third one to Luxembourg again, although narrowly at a score of 13-11. Paranang then won the fourth set, which meant that Luxembourg’s future in the competition depended on the fifth and final set.
Lian kept her cool during this last encounter and finished the opposing player off with 11-6. Luxembourg’s women thus qualified for the round of 16, which are scheduled to take place on Wednesday 5 October.
