On April 11th, Beijing time, the 2017 Asian Table Tennis Championships entered the third competition day. In the men's team semi-finals in the afternoon, the Chinese men's team faced the Chinese Taipei team. In this game, the Chinese team sent the main men's table tennis team Fan Zhendong as the No. 1 singles, Ma Long and Zhang Jike as the No. 2 and 3 respectively. The three players sent by the Chinese Taipei team are Chen Jianan , Liao Zhenjue and young player Yang Hengwei.
In the first set, Fan Zhendong, ranked second in the world, took the lead to face Chinese Taipei table tennis star Chen Jianan. Chen Jianan is a left-handed horizontal player with a delicate touch. He was well known to many fans for defeating Grand Slam Zhang Jike 3:2 in the 2013 Team World Cup. The two players, who had similar playing styles, had a somewhat intense fight at the beginning of the first game, with the score alternately rising to 6 draws, but Fan Zhendong won 11:7 with his higher batting quality. Entering the second game, Chen Jianan fought hard and got a strong start of 3:0, but was reversed by Fan Zhendong and played another game. In the third game, Fan Zhendong's transition from offense to defense was smooth. Chen Jian'an was at his wits' end at this time. At 11:5, Fan Zhendong scored the first point of the game in three straight games.
National table tennis captain Ma Long appeared in the second set. His opponent was Liao Zhenjue, a young player born in 1996. In the end, Malone won 3:0. In the first game, Liao Zhenjue still showed his impact as a young player, and his backhand also had certain lethality. However, facing the "airtight" Malone, he still lost the game 6:11. In the next two games, Malone did not give his opponent many chances. He relied on his accurate judgment of the opponent's ball placement and rich experience to win 11:5 and 11:7 respectively.
The third set was between Zhang Jike and Yang Hengwei. In the first game, Zhang Jike entered the state slowly. The two sides played very fiercely. The score was once tied at 11. With Zhang Jike's backhand, he pulled the ball to the opponent's forehand position and scored. At 13:11, Zhang Jike won the first game. In the second game, Yang Hengwei strengthened the quality of the first three boards. Zhang Jike was passive from the beginning and was pulled back by his opponent. In the third game, Zhang Jike reversed the situation and won the game after a bad start. A timeout at a critical moment was even more praised by Yang Ying in the commentary box. In the last game, Zhang Jike fully released his form and won 11:8, which also meant that the Chinese team defeated the opponent 3:0 in this game and advanced to the finals.
According to the schedule, the men's team final will start at 14:00 tomorrow. It is worth mentioning that what kind of lineup head coach Qin Zhijian will send in tomorrow's game has triggered many fans' speculation: whether it will be the "Three Musketeers" of yesterday's Rio Olympics or the same lineup as today, let us wait and see.
