Mu Zi stays positive despite semifinal loss at table tennis worlds

Chinese player Mu Zi lost a seven-set thriller to teammate Ding Ning in the women's singles semifinal of the table tennis world championships on Saturday, but she is satisfied about her performance.

Mu, fighting her way out from the qualifying stage to the main draw, pushed world number one Ding to corners by sending the match to the deciding seventh set, but she still fell short, losing at 11-9, 6-11, 10-12, 11-5, 6-11, 11-1, 6-11.

"I've seen this coming. Of course I wanted to win but I'm satisfied with my performance. On the last set when I was down 2-5, I felt I might lose so I called a timeout and tried to adjust myself," Mu said.

Prior to the semifinal, Mu and Ding never played against each other on the world level but at the pre-world championships Chinese team trials, Mu beat Ding in the final 3-2, a win that went a long way to her being selected in the team.

"It was just a trial inside the team. She didn't prepare well as she did for this match. I don't have enough experience in playing in the world championships like her."

"I'm very satisfied with my performance because I made it to the semifinals and I didn't lose to foreign players," she added.

"My experience these years helps me a lot in having a positive mind. I've had so many difficulties in recent years. I was so frustrated when I was out of the first squad and before the training camp I had a very bad hand injury. I nearly decided to retire once but I didn't." Endi