Now 24 Days to Go: Same Seeding but One Pair for the World Champions to Avoid

Earlier in the year in May, they were the seventh seeds at the Liebherr World Championships in Paris; at the conclusion on proceedings Chinese Taipei's Chen Chien-An and Chuang Chih-Yuan proudly held aloft the Iran Cup, the winners of the Men's Doubles title.

At the forthcoming $1,000,000 GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals to be staged in Dubai from Thursday 9th to Sunday 12th January 2014; likewise they are the Men's Doubles seventh seeds. They finished the year with 208 points.

Could seven be their lucky number?

Two Chinese Taipei Pairings
They are one of two partnerships from Chinese Taipei to have qualified for Dubai; the other pairing is that of Chiang Hung-Chieh and Huang Sheng-Sheng. 

Chen Chien-An and Chuang Chih-Yuan are the third seeds and arguably the pair more than any other that the reigning World champions will want to avoid.

Competed in Preliminary Stages
At the start of the year, Chen Chien-An and Chiang Hung-Chieh were very much outsiders; in both Kuwait and Doha they were not seeded, they had to qualify to compete in the main draw. 

Preliminary rounds play was needed.

Signs in Qatar
In Kuwait they suffered a four games defeat at the hands of China's Ma Long and Zhang Jike; there was nothing in the results gained in their first appearance of the year as a partnership to suggest what might follow in Paris.

However, one week later in Qatar, there were indications that, with the benefit of hindsight, underlined their status as a pairing of considerable quality. In the opening round they beat Austria's Robert Gardos and Daniel Habesohn, the reigning European champions at the time, in a close five games duel decided by the minimal two point margin in the fifth game.

One round later it was a similarly closely fought encounter only with the reverse decision; they were beaten by the minimal two point margin in the fifth game by Korea's Kim Minseok and Seo Hyundeok.

Top Seeds
A break from the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour ensued as the LIebherr World Championships assumed centre stage; following their success in Paris, when the Tour resumed, they were no longer required to compete in the preliminary rounds, they were the top seeds.
No title came there way but when they suffered defeat it was in five games except on one occasion.

Close Defeats
In Japan they departed at the quarter-final stage, beaten in a full five games distance duel by Singapore's Yang Zi and Zhan Jian; in Suzhou at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour Harmony Open it was the same verdict one round later. 

They were beaten by Japan's Koki Niwa and Kenta Matsudaira.

Different Story in Germany
Close defeats but on their one further and concluding Men's Doubles Tour appearance of the year in Germany, it was a very different story. They suffered a straight games quarter-final defeat.

The pair against whom they suffered pain: Chiang Hung-Chieh and Huang Sheng-Sheng!

Heartbreak in Final
Success for the duo who secured the Boys� Doubles title at the ITTF World Junior Championships in Linz in 2005 but in the final in Germany, against the host nation's Timo Boll and Patrick Franziska, they suffered heartbreak. 

They led by two games to one and 9-4 in the third before the Germans snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

Semi-Finals
However, it was their best performance of the year; in Poland and Sweden they reached the semi-finals In Poland they lost in five games to Japan's Masataka Morizono and Kohei Sambe, in Sweden in straight games against the combination of the host nation's P Gerell and China's Yan An.

Close Defeats
Simply as the year progressed, the latter stage was the norm; at the start of the year it had been a different proposition. In Japan, they had experienced an opening round defeat against Russia's Alexey Liventso and Mikail Paikov in five games; in Japan a quarter-final reverse against Japan's Kenta Matsudaira and Koki Niwa. 

Likewise, it was defeat in five games.

The Draw
Close defeats but consistency has earned a place in Dubai and, when they draw is made in the Men's Doubles event, they may well want the pair nobody else wishes to face. 

Surely you do not wish to draw the World champions in the first round; that is unless you are Chiang Hung-Chieh and Huang Sheng-Sheng.