Hina Hayata
Doha: Hina Hayata ended her Doha sojourn in style as the Japanese claimed the women’s singles title at the Asian Table Tennis Championships at Lusail Sports Hall yesterday.
Hayata nine days earlier had won the WTT Star Contender tournament, with the 21-year-old staying undefeated throughout her stay in Doha. Yesterday, the sixth seed secured the Asian title after defeating surprise finalist Shin Yubin of South Korea 7-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-4.
At the semi-final stage, Hayata had required to save one match point in the fifth game of her contest against compatriot Saki Shibata before prevailing 11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 8-11, 12-10. Hayata became just fourth player from Japan, since 1972 when the tournament came under the authority of the Asian Table Tennis Union, to lift the women’s singles title.
Tomie Edano won in 1974 in Yokohama, Chire Koyama in 1996 in Kallang and Miu Hirano in 2017 in Wuxi; Chire Koyama is the former He Zhili when representing China won on three consecutive occasions starting in 1984 in Islamabad.
Meanwhile, Hayata partnered with Shunsuke Togami to beat South Korea’s Jang Woojin and Jeon Jihee (6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9) to secure the mixed doubles title. Thus, they became the first Japanese pair to claim the title since 1978 when Seiji Ono and Kayo Sugaya won in Kuala Lumpur.
Notably, Japan won the mixed doubles title in the first four editions of the tournament. Prior to 1978, Nobuhiko Hasegawa and Yasuko Konno had won in 1972 in Beijing, Mitsuru Kohno and Tomie Edano in 1974 in Yokohama, Tetsuo Inoue and Mitsuko Shimamoto in 1976 in Pyongyang.
