DOHA (Qatar): Former European table tennis champion Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Lin Yun-Ju will clash in the men’s singles final of the World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender on Saturday.
Ukraine-born German national Ovtcharov defeated World N0. 8 Mattias Falck of Sweden 3-2 in the quarterfinals and in the semifinals he beat 17-year-old Tomokazu Harimoto.
Ovtcharov, 32, ranked World No.12 on the ITTF ranking computer, turned a 2-0 set deficit against the Japanese, to win 4-2 and a book a place in the final of the $ 200,000 tournament,
In the title clash, the former German number one in the world rankings will meet another teenager.
Lin of Chinese Taiwan is only 19 years old and like Harimoto, is considered a prodigy.
Lin defeated Simon Gauzy of France 4-1 in the semis while in the quarterfinal, he got the better of Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna 3-1.
The top players from China are not taking part in the tournament in Doha, the first international event of the season.
The second tiers of the WTT Middle East Hub – WTT Star Contender will be held from March 6 to 13.
