2012 Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament Results
2012 Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament Results
After four days of intense and nerve wracking competition at the 2012 Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament held at the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre from the 5th - 8th March 2012, the dust has finally settled and the results are in.
Congratulations to following players (listed in order of qualifying), who have all qualified to represent their countries in the 2012 London Olympics. Commiserations to the other athletes, many of whom would have also been worthy choices to represent their countries.
Men: William Henzell (Australia), Justin Han (Australia), Phillip Xiao (New Zealand).
Women: Jian Fang Lay (Australia), Li Chunli (New Zealand), Miao Miao (Australia).
It was interesting to note that Jian Fang Lay qualified the day before her 40th birthday, and Li Chunli qualified at the age of 50!
On a sadder note, it appears likely that the New Zealand Olympic Committee won't select either Phillip or Li to compete at the London Olympics, due to their policy of requiring table tennis athletes to have the potential to finish in the top 16 places. I guess the wise heads at the NZOC have never heard of an upset in sport before.
This policy resulted in some of New Zealand's best table tennis athletes not even bothering to come over and attempt to qualify - and who can blame them when the 2008 winner of the Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament wasn't allowed to compete in Beijing? (Strangely enough, this was Karen Li, Li Chunli's younger sister!) You can read more about this horrible policy and the effect on New Zealand's athletes at Sarah Her-Lee's table tennis blog.
Full match results can be found at the Oceania Table Tennis website.
Detailed reviews of each days play can be found on the ITTF website, and at Matt Hetherington's table tennis blog (Introduction, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4).
Jian Fang Lay
Jian Fang Lay turned 40 the day after qualifying in the number 1 position for the 2012 London Olympics, and like a fine wine, her game appears to be getting better and better!
Jian uses a unique and very disconcerting style to play against, using a Chinese Penhold grip, but twiddling her bat to switch between inverted rubber and long pips.
With a previous world ranking high in the 40-50 range, Jian is more than capable of upsetting more fancied opponents with her aggressive and disruptive game play.
Justin Han
Justin Han arrived on the Australian table tennis scene in 2008 as a young 18 year old migrant from China, and immediately had an impact in table tennis circles.
Since then, Justin has cemented himself in the top 5 Australian players with his mixture of aggressive topspin play from both wings, combined with fast footwork and deft short game.
Justin will be competing in his first Olympic Games for Australia, and will be looking to perform well for his adopted country.
At age 50, Li Chunli came out of retirement to compete in the 2012 Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament, reportedly to get some match practice in for the 2014 World Veteran's Championships, which are to be held in her home country of New Zealand.
Li uses a Chinese Penhold grip with short pimples in the traditional manner (i.e. without using the back side of the racket at all). Li possesses a dominating serve and attack game, which she used to great effect in the qualifying tournament, beating all her opponents apart from fellow penholder Jian Fang Lay, in the last match of a long day - perhaps not surprising at her age!
According to the ITTF website, this is the fifth time Li has qualified for the Olympic games - she has competed previously at Barcelona (1992), Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004).
Only time will tell if the New Zealand Olympic Board considers this to be enough of a pedigree to meet their exacting qualifying requirements to merit actual selection for the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Rounding out the qualifiers on the final day of competition at the 2012 Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament were Phillip Xiao and Miao Miao.
Phillip had some very good wins on the earlier days of the tournament and played consistently well but couldn't quite get the final nod on Day 2 and 3, so it was no doubt a relief to win his place as the third qualifier on the final day!
On the other hand, Miao Miao had not shown her best form in the early days of the tournament, but she came good when it mattered, defeating both Peri Campbell-Innes and Vivian Tan to book her place as third female qualifier and second Australian women's team member.
Congratulations to all the qualifying players, let's hope we see you in London, where you are sure to do your countries proud, regardless of where you place (the New Zealand Olympic Committee please take note).
After four days of intense and nerve wracking competition at the 2012 Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament held at the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre from the 5th - 8th March 2012, the dust has finally settled and the results are in.
Congratulations to following players (listed in order of qualifying), who have all qualified to represent their countries in the 2012 London Olympics. Commiserations to the other athletes, many of whom would have also been worthy choices to represent their countries.
Men: William Henzell (Australia), Justin Han (Australia), Phillip Xiao (New Zealand).
Women: Jian Fang Lay (Australia), Li Chunli (New Zealand), Miao Miao (Australia).
It was interesting to note that Jian Fang Lay qualified the day before her 40th birthday, and Li Chunli qualified at the age of 50!
On a sadder note, it appears likely that the New Zealand Olympic Committee won't select either Phillip or Li to compete at the London Olympics, due to their policy of requiring table tennis athletes to have the potential to finish in the top 16 places. I guess the wise heads at the NZOC have never heard of an upset in sport before.
This policy resulted in some of New Zealand's best table tennis athletes not even bothering to come over and attempt to qualify - and who can blame them when the 2008 winner of the Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament wasn't allowed to compete in Beijing? (Strangely enough, this was Karen Li, Li Chunli's younger sister!) You can read more about this horrible policy and the effect on New Zealand's athletes at Sarah Her-Lee's table tennis blog.
Full match results can be found at the Oceania Table Tennis website.
Detailed reviews of each days play can be found on the ITTF website, and at Matt Hetherington's table tennis blog (Introduction, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4).
Pictured Athlete
William Henzell is Australia's #1 male table tennis player, and the #1 qualifier for Oceania. William spent many months at the Werner Schlager Academy in Europe preparing for the qualification tournament. Possessing a fierce work ethic and equally fierce backhand, William will be looking to improve on his 2008 Beijing Olympic result, where he pushed China's Wang Liqin all the way before just falling short.Jian Fang Lay
Jian Fang Lay turned 40 the day after qualifying in the number 1 position for the 2012 London Olympics, and like a fine wine, her game appears to be getting better and better!
Jian uses a unique and very disconcerting style to play against, using a Chinese Penhold grip, but twiddling her bat to switch between inverted rubber and long pips.
With a previous world ranking high in the 40-50 range, Jian is more than capable of upsetting more fancied opponents with her aggressive and disruptive game play.
Justin Han
Justin Han arrived on the Australian table tennis scene in 2008 as a young 18 year old migrant from China, and immediately had an impact in table tennis circles.
Since then, Justin has cemented himself in the top 5 Australian players with his mixture of aggressive topspin play from both wings, combined with fast footwork and deft short game.
Justin will be competing in his first Olympic Games for Australia, and will be looking to perform well for his adopted country.
At age 50, Li Chunli came out of retirement to compete in the 2012 Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament, reportedly to get some match practice in for the 2014 World Veteran's Championships, which are to be held in her home country of New Zealand.
Li uses a Chinese Penhold grip with short pimples in the traditional manner (i.e. without using the back side of the racket at all). Li possesses a dominating serve and attack game, which she used to great effect in the qualifying tournament, beating all her opponents apart from fellow penholder Jian Fang Lay, in the last match of a long day - perhaps not surprising at her age!
According to the ITTF website, this is the fifth time Li has qualified for the Olympic games - she has competed previously at Barcelona (1992), Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004).
Only time will tell if the New Zealand Olympic Board considers this to be enough of a pedigree to meet their exacting qualifying requirements to merit actual selection for the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Rounding out the qualifiers on the final day of competition at the 2012 Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament were Phillip Xiao and Miao Miao.
Phillip had some very good wins on the earlier days of the tournament and played consistently well but couldn't quite get the final nod on Day 2 and 3, so it was no doubt a relief to win his place as the third qualifier on the final day!
On the other hand, Miao Miao had not shown her best form in the early days of the tournament, but she came good when it mattered, defeating both Peri Campbell-Innes and Vivian Tan to book her place as third female qualifier and second Australian women's team member.
Congratulations to all the qualifying players, let's hope we see you in London, where you are sure to do your countries proud, regardless of where you place (the New Zealand Olympic Committee please take note).
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