Olympic champ Zhang JK again falls at first hurdle, stopped by a 15-year-old

by sportswriter Zhang Han

SHENZHEN, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Former world No. 1 Zhang Jike suffered another first-round exit here on Friday, losing in straight sets to Japanese teenager Tomokazu Harimoto in less than 30 minutes at the ITTF 2018 World Tour table tennis China Open.

"Was this match fasted forward?" Zhang mocked himself after beaten 11-8, 11-3, 11-8, 11-6 by the 15-year-old Harimoto, whose parents were both Chinese professional players before obtaining citizenships in Japan.

"I don’t think I lost too much on technique and tactics," said Zhang Jike. "It's just that my opponent was at a high speed throughout the match."

The 30-year-old Grand Slam paddler, multi-time men's singles winner of Olympic Games, world championships and World Cup in 2011-2014, just made his comeback to international competitions last week in Hong Kong, China.

Zhang, currently the 168th on ITTF's world rankings after a rest of more than half a year, however, have twice stopped at the first hurdle after reaching the main draw through three round knockout qualifications, both in Hong Kong and here in Shenzhen.

He admitted that age has become a serious problem for him and he could actually feel the intensity after high-level rivalry.

"My body shouted out a lot after my last qualifying match in the Hong Kong Open. I could hear my muscle cried during playing. That's the main reason I lost my first round face-off there," Zhang said.

"Also I'm not as confident as before and I was anxious when losing control of the match, especially while trailing.

"But here, I can say that I'm getting better and better on court even though I lost again in the first round of the singles main draw," he added.

Zhang rated his state now as just 50% as that of his top form in recent years and expects to get to 60%-70% in two or three months.

"No, I'm not a quitter," he said. "I won't give up after losing just one or two Open matches. I want to enjoy my play while trying to play my best table tennis, even though it's hard for a man in his 30s to catch up with the youngsters."

Zhang will play next week's Japanese Open as he and the Chinese table tennis association have planned, starting again from qualifications of course, with ITTF grant direct berths to main draw only to the top 16 ranked players. Enditem