Team Asia beat Team World to clinch the title at the inaugural Waldner Cup in Oslo, Norway, on Sunday.
Team Asia — comprising India’s Manika Batra, China’s Chen Meng, South Korea’s Jang Woo-Jin, Lim Jong-Hoon and Shin Yu-Bin, and Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gerassimenko with Chinese great Ma Long as captain — beat Team World 14-10.
Established by Swedish table tennis legend Jan-Ove Waldner, the Waldner Cup was held from December 13 to 15. A Charity Match took place on the first day while the main event took place on the following two days. It was an invitational tournament, sanctioned by the Norwegian Table Tennis Association.
Led by Waldner, Team World featured Sweden Truls Moregardh, Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Brazil’s Hugo Calderano, Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz and Romania’s Bernadette Szocs.
Manika lost her singles match to Diaz. She also suffered defeat in the doubles match where she partnered Yubin and took on Diaz and Szocz.
As per the format, winning a match gave a team one point on the first day. On the second day, it was two points per victory.
Ma, a two-time men’s singles Olympic gold medallist, defeated Moregardh, Paris Olympics silver medallist in the final game of the final match, to seal the victory for Team Asia.
