Portugal for the first time in the “quarters” of the Women’s World Cup
The Portuguese women’s table tennis team qualified for the quarter-finals of the Team World Cup, beating Luxembourg 3-1, facing hosts China in the next round.
After already having history with an exclusive qualification, which presents itself with the top three favorites and the presence of the world, which presents itself with the first three favorites that won 21 world titles.
Fu Yu, 17th in the world hierarchy, gave Portugal the first point, with a triumph over Luxembourg’s number one, Ni Xia Lian (41st), by 3-1 (15-13, 7-11, 11- 3 and 11-4).
The other Portuguese Olympian, Jieni Shao (53rd in the world), also prevailed in the second match of the tie, beating Sarah de Nutte, 68th, also by 3-1, with the partials of 11-3, 11- 5, 7-11 and 11-6.
In the meeting between the two least ranked athletes from the two countries, the Luxembourgish Tessy Gonderinger, 298th in the world, prevailed over the Portuguese Inês Matos, 287th, by 3-2 (9-11, 11-9, 11- 8, 8-11 and 11-7).
Jieni Shao would end up securing the Portuguese qualification, with a 3-2 victory over Ni Xia Lian (11-9, 8-11, 12-14, 3-11 and 6-11).
Also features in the round of 16, the men’s team plays on Thursday against Slovenia.