On Sunday, Team Asia defeated Team World to claim the title at the inaugural Waldner Cup in Oslo, Norway.
Team Asia, consisting of Manika Batra from India, Chen Meng from China, Jang Woo-Jin, Lim Jong-Hoon and Shin Yu-Bin from South Korea and Kirill Gerassimenko from Kazakhstan, captained by the great Chinese Ma Long, defeated Team World 14-10.
Founded by Swedish table tennis legend Jan-Ove Waldner, the Waldner Cup tournament took place on December 13–15. A charity match was held on the first day, and the main event took place on the following two days. It was an invitational tournament approved by the Norwegian Table Tennis Association.
Team World, led by Waldner, included Swede Truls Moregardh, German Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Brazilian Hugo Calderano, Adriana Diaz from Puerto Rico and Bernadette Szocs from Romania.
Manika lost her singles match against Diaz. She also suffered a defeat in doubles, where, as Yubin’s partner, she faced Diaz and Szocz.
Following the format, winning the match gave the team one point on the first day. On the second day, two points were awarded for a victory.
Ma, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in men’s singles, defeated Moregardh, a silver medalist at the Paris Olympics, in the last game of the final match, sealing Team Asia’s victory.
