Chuqin sparkles on another day of upsets at Doha Worlds

Doha, Qatar: World No.2 Wang Chuqin of China stole limelight on the third day of the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals Doha 2025 yesterday...

Doha, Qatar: World No.2 Wang Chuqin of China stole limelight on the third day of the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals Doha 2025 yesterday as upsets continued at the Lusail Sports Hall.

The two-time Olympic champion and a holder of seven world titles, Chuqin needed just over 23 minutes to sweep past Brazilian opponent Leonardo Iizuka 4-0 (11-3, 11-3, 11-5, 11-4) and book a Round of 32 meeting with either French 29th-seed Thibault Poret or Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting.

Hours after his second win at the Doha Worlds, Chuqin went on to win his mixed doubles second round game with Sun Yingsha as they sealed a crushing 3-0 (11-2, 11-7, 11-4) win over World Cup singles winner Hugo Calderano and his partner Bruna Takahashi of Brazil. The Chinese pair then made straight to the Round of 16 after receiving a walk over from 15th-seeds Ovidiu Ionescu and Elizabeta Samara of Romania.

In one of the biggest upsets of the day, Englishman Tom Jarvis defeated No. 10 seed Dang Qui in a thrilling seven game encounter. Jarvis won the first three games before the German World No.11 Qiu fought back to level at 3-3. However, Jarvis managed to win the deciding game advance with a 11-9, 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 1-11, 6-11, 11-8 in a match that lasted almost 62 minutes.

“I’ve been watching Dang Qiu for years. He’s a European champion and is someone all of us from Europe look up to, and you see the hard work he puts in. I don’t really know how to go into these matches. I had a chat with my coaches and sports psychologist, just trying to think about what I can do and not focus on who I am playing,” the 25-year-old Jarvis said after the memorable win.