THE RISE OF A WORLD CHAMP
The Straits Times|December 01, 2021
An Olympic reserve months ago, Wang beats Sun to win title and seeks to improve further
Laura Chia
THE RISE OF A WORLD CHAMP

Just six months ago, world No. 4 Wang Manyu was left out of China’s women’s main team for the Tokyo Olympics, named only as a reserve. But she was called upon to replace the injured Liu Shiwen and helped the Chinese claim a fourth straight team gold.

Riding on that momentum, Wang is now a singles world champion after she beat compatriot and world No. 2 Sun Yingsha 4-2 (11-13, 11-7, 6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 17-15) in the final at the World Table Tennis Championships in Houston, Texas, on Monday.

This is Wang’s maiden world singles crown and in the semi-finals, the 22-year-old avenged her 2019 loss to world No. 1 Chen Meng at the same stage with a hard-fought 4-3 win.

While Wang has won the women’s doubles and team golds, her previous best result in the singles was the joint bronze in 2019.

This story is from the December 01, 2021 edition of The Straits Times.

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This story is from the December 01, 2021 edition of The Straits Times.

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