The crouching ball became a secret weapon, and Hina Hayata, who defeated Shi Xunyao, reached the top 8 of the 2025 World Table Tennis Championships

22/05/2025 20:35:00 baseball

On May 22, in a match in the fourth round of the women's singles at the 2025 World Table Tennis Championships in Doha, the Japanese star Hina Hayata, ranked 7th in the world, defeated Chinese player Shi Xunyao 4-2 and entered the quarterfinals. Because there is no third-place match (bronze medal match) at the World Table Tennis Championships, it is guaranteed that you will win a bronze medal or above after reaching the semifinals (top four).

Hina Hayata

Japanese media said that Hina Hayata, who defeated Wang Yidi at the 2023 World Table Tennis Championships in Durban to win the bronze medal in women's singles, will also challenge and surpass Chinese players from here, first facing Shi Xunyao, who won the championship twice at the World Youth Championships.

Hina Hayada served more effectively in the first game, and in the rally, she responded while maintaining an appropriate distance from the table to take the lead at 11-5. In the second game, Hina Hayada also led 7-5, but from here on, Shi Xunyao's strong play recovered somewhat, and Hina Hayada could only watch herself be reversed 8-11.

Shi Xunyao

In the third game, Hina Hayada fell behind 1-6, and then used a crouch serve to close the score, but still lost 8-11. In the next 4th game, Hina Hayada won back 11-5 with a sharp attack. Hina Hayata's squatting ball in this game still exerted power against Shi Xunyao, and it was easy to take the initiative in the first three boards. In the 5th game, Hina Hayada also won 11-5.

In the 6th game, Hina Hayada led 9-8, and the next Hina Hayata's serve was judged to be blocked by the imported video, and the score became 9-9. However, Hina Hayada scored in the next long matchup, and with one more ball, she sealed the win of the match.

Hina Hayada pointed to winning a singles medal at the World Table Tennis Championships for 2 consecutive years. In the quarter-finals, she will be with Chen XingtongBruna Takahashi(Brazil).