China In The 2011 Swedish Open

This year's calendar for the Pro Tour Events is coming to an end with the Swedish Open taking place today, October 19 until the 23rd in the city of Stockholm. The last edition of the Swedish Open was in year 2007 where China nailed three championship titles giving the Women Doubles to South Korea.

Last November 17, 2007, China experienced a different fate in the previous edition of the Swedish Open as the Chinese pairs of Ding Ning / Liu Shiwen and Cao Zhen / Guo Yan failed to reach the finals of the Women Doubles. Instead, Kim Kyung Ah / Park Mi Young of Korea won the title that year after defeating Haruna Fukuoka / Sayaka Hirano of Japan.

Meanwhile, China was victorious in the rest of the events. Ma Long / Wang Hao for the Men Doubles, Li Xiaoxia for the Women Singles and Wang Hao for the Men Singles.

This year, China is in full force. For the male delegates, the promising Yan An took the place of Xu Xin as the rising star will play in Singles and in Doubles with the veteran Wang Liqin. It is worth mentioning that Yan An has progressed from being a qualifier to a seeded player in the tournament. Wang Hao, Ma Long, Zhang Jike and Ma Lin complete the list for the male delegates of China.

In addition to the partnership of Yan An and Wang Liqin, Ma Long will pair up with Zhang Jike while Ma Lin will have Wang Hao for the Men's Doubles.

For the female delegates, the world's number one and at the same time defending champion Li Xiaoxia will not be on duty this year. Hence, there will certainly be a new reigning Women Singles Champion. Meanwhile, her compatriots Guo Yan, Ding Ning, Guo Yue, Liu Shiwen, Wen Jia and Yang Yang will all have their chances for the title.

As for the Women's Doubles, Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen will have their chance to redeem themselves from their 3-4 defeat in the last season as they will partner again this year. In addition, Guo Yan will also have her opportunity for redmeption. But this time, she will partner with Guo Yue. Wen Jia and Yang Yang complete the list for the Chinese delegates in the Women's Doubles. 

Tabletennistas, what do you think would be the overall performance of China this year considering that both Timo Boll and Feng Tianwei are off duty? Will they sweep all titles available or they will be generous this year? Will Wang Hao be able to defend his title or Ma Long will continue his winning streak?

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