Monopoly

A major table tennis championship here was dominated by South Korea. Abeer Anwar reports on a clean sweep

---

Click to view caption

South Korea's Lee Eun Sil and Suk Eun Mi made a smashing doubles duo

South Korea took home every gold medal available at the second Table Tennis Egypt Open Pro Tour.

Even Austrian Werner Schlager, the world champion, could not stop the Korean wave, sinking in the final to Ryu Seung Min of South Korea 4-2. It was Min's first Egypt Pro Tour title.

"I could not play my backhand in the fourth set but I tried hard in the fifth and sixth sets, but he (Ryu) kept changing his techniques," Schlager said after the match. "It is good to get second place and I will return for the third Pro Tour in Cairo to claim the title," he added.

In the women's final, none of the two top seeds made it to the end. Lee Eun Sil of South Korea and Liu Jia of Austria made it instead after going the route undefeated. None had won a Pro Tour event before. The Korean can now boast that she has.

Using surprise attacking techniques, the Korean men's double pair of Lee Chul Seung and Ryu Seung Min beat the favourite Austrian duo of Schlager and Karl Jindark 4-1. Schlager was naturally tired after having competed in the singles, and losing.

South Korea completed its gold sweep in the women's double after Lee Eun Sil and Suk Eun Mi easily handled Germany's Tanja Hain Hofmann and Belgium's Li Yu Fei 4-1.