Paddler Fan books first Chinese men's ticket to World Championships

World's No. 3 Fan Zhendong beat Ma Long 3-1 in the final of scrimmage stage one here on Tuesday to get the first ticket among Chinese men's players for 2015 World Table Tennis Championships.

"I made full preparation for this match. All of us are familiar with each other," said Fan. "Coming from behind to win the second game built my confident to be myself in the next two games."

Fan and Ma booked their encounter after beating Xu Xin 3-1 and Liang Jingkun 3-2 in Tuesday's semifinals respectively.

After suffering a 11-9 loss in the first game, Fan got the upper hand with his powerful hits, and came back with 11-9 and 11-5 in next two games.

Fan's hot momentum continued in the fourth, and claimed the title with 11-8 due to Ma's poor hit.

Fan's victory means that other eight players, including Ma Long, Cui Qinglei, Liang Jingkun, Xu Xin, Fang Bo, Xu Chenhao, Hao Shuai and Zhang Jike, will have to fight for the second ticket to the worlds, which will run from April 26 to May 3 in Suzhou, China.

Women's world No. 1 Ding Ning will meet Chen Meng in the semifinals after they upset Li Xiaodan and Che Xiaoxi respectively.

Only one ticket is left for eight women players in this stage as Liu Shiwen became the first to secure one last December.