Table tennis

Polcanova saves Austria’s day at the Grand Smash

Sofia Polcanova from Upper Austria saved Austria's day at the 1.5 million dollar table tennis Grand Smash in Singapore on Wednesday! 

The 28-year-old defeated the Puerto Rican Adriana Diaz 3:2 in the singles round of 16 and advanced to the round of 16. Earlier in the day, Austria's table tennis aces had suffered four defeats in four matches.

Polcanova had lost 3-0 to Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto/Hina Hayata before her victory in the mixed quarter-finals with Robert Gardos. In the women's doubles round of 16, she and Romania's Bernadette Szocs had lost 3-2 to China's Chen Meng/Wang Manyu, the No. 2 and No. 3 singles players in the world rankings.

Polcanova now against Chen Xingtong
In the men's singles, Daniel Habesohn lost 3-1 to Sweden's Kristian Karlsson in the round of 16. With this result, he was defeated in the doubles round of 16 with Gardos against Alexis and Felix Lebrun from France. Polcanova will now face the Chinese world number six Chen Xingtong in the round of 16.