Liebherr 2019 Table Tennis World Championships Budapest April 21-28th
Netherlands’ player LI Jie showed steadiness at the last four World Championships reaching three times Round of 16. Each time she was halted by strong Chinese players: in 2011 Rotterdam she was beaten by then no. 2 seed GUO Yan in 2015 Suzhou – by 2013 bronze medallist ZHU Yuling in 2017 Dusseldorf – by reigning champion DING Ning. That result will be her goal at the forthcoming Liebherr 2019 World Championships which commences this Sunday April 21st in the Hungarian capital Budapest.
“I am in my usual shape and I will try to deliver my best in order to get the best result. Regarding favourites I think it’s the Chinese player DING Ning” stated LI Jie who won Women’s Doubles bronze medal at the 2015 World Championships playing alongside LI Qian of Poland. Two years ago in Dusseldorf they were forced to withdraw due to LI Qian’s injury.
LI Jie is actual no. 27 at the ITTF World rankings as the fifth best European player. Speaking about possible upsets in the Women Singles event at the Liebherr 2019 World Championships she explained:
“There are many young and talented players in Japan. I believe that some European players are able to get medals.”
One week after the World Championships in Budapest LI Jie and LI Qian will play one against another in the 2018/19 European Champions League final. Croatian Dr. CASL led by LI Jie is going to defend the title against LI Qian’s KTS Enea Siarka Tarnobrzeg.