Happy New Year; pyrotechnics from east to west signalled the start of 2014 and there is no question, fireworks will light up the United Arab Emirates from Thursday 9th to Sunday 12th January 2014.
Yan An and Fan Zhendong are set to ignite the touch paper in Dubai at the US$ 1,000,000 GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals.
Exciting, dynamic, hungry young men; they have qualified to play in the Men's Singles event, Fan Zhendong is the no.2 seed, Yan An is the no.5 seed.
Yan An and Fan Zhendong are set to ignite the touch paper in Dubai at the US$ 1,000,000 GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals.
Exciting, dynamic, hungry young men; they have qualified to play in the Men's Singles event, Fan Zhendong is the no.2 seed, Yan An is the no.5 seed.
Blazed the Trail
One year ago we knew of Yan An and Fan Zhendong; as the old year came to close to an end and Christmas approached, they had made their presence firmly known.
They had set the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour alight. In Poland, Germany and Sweden; they blazed the trail.
Staggeringly, only 16 years of age, Fan Zhendong won the Men's Singles title in Poland and then repeated the success the following week in Germany. Could he complete the hat-trick in Sweden? The answer was to be in the negative, he was beaten by Yan An in the final.
World Junior Championships
The students had graduated, both had enjoyed success at the World Junior Championships.
Yan An had been a member of the Chinese gold medal winning Boys' Team on three occasions; success coming in Palo Alto in 2007, the following year in Madrid and in 2009 in Cartagena de Indias. Furthermore, he had won the Boys' Doubles title with Song Shichao in 2007 and harness with Song Hongyuan in 2008.
Meanwhile, in the Boys' Singles event it was annual progress. A quarter-finalist in Palo Alto, he progressed to the semi-finals in Madrid and in Cartagena de Indias he was the runner up.
Success at First Attempt
No Boys' Singles title for Yan An; not the situation for Fan Zhendong; one appearance and a somewhat surprise winner.
In Hyderabad in 2012, it was gold in the Boys' Team event, gold in the Mixed Doubles with Liu Gaoyang and silver in the Boys' Doubles with Fan Shengpeng. The Boys' Singles title was the icing on the cake and somewhat of a surprise.
Still in the cadet age group, he beat Lin Gaoyang in the final, the player who had been the runner up in Bratislava and Manama; it was to be a third silver medal for the quicksilver left hander. Power won the day.
Even Bigger Surprises
A somewhat surprise result but as the old year closed, Fan Zhendong caused even bigger surprises; shocks that the beginning of the year did not necessarily forecast.
He made his ITTF World Tour debut in Doha and, as status suggested, was beaten by Portugal's Marcos Freitas; then in Changchun at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour China Open he suffered defeat at hands of Yan An.
Learning the Trade
Neither defeat could have been considered a great surprise; a 16 year old was finding his feet, he was learning the trade, Marcos Freitas was far more experienced, Yan An was four years older.
Learning the trade, Fan Zhendong was learning fast and he was learning from defeat.
At the Asian Championships in the Korean city of Busan in early July, he was beaten by Japan's Kenta Matsudaira at the quarter-final stage of the Men's Singles event; four months later at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour Polish Open, the two met again, this time in the penultimate round. Fan Zhendong won in four straight games before arresting the title by overcoming colleague, Zhou Yu, in the final.
Stunning
The success in Poland was stunning, it was even more stunning when in the latter stages of the Men's Singles event at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour German Open he beat in succession Zhang Jike, Vladimir Samsonov and Dimitrij Ovtcharov to collect his second title in consecutive weeks.
Back-to-Back titles, eyes were focused very much on the teenager when he appeared in Stockholm; he was not to make it three in a row but he underlined the fact that when facing extreme pressure he could respond. He beat colleagues Zhou Yu and Xin Xin by the minimal two point margins in the quarter and semi-finals respectively.
They were performances which underlined the fact that his success in Poland and Germany was no flash in the pan.
One year ago we knew of Yan An and Fan Zhendong; as the old year came to close to an end and Christmas approached, they had made their presence firmly known.
They had set the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour alight. In Poland, Germany and Sweden; they blazed the trail.
Staggeringly, only 16 years of age, Fan Zhendong won the Men's Singles title in Poland and then repeated the success the following week in Germany. Could he complete the hat-trick in Sweden? The answer was to be in the negative, he was beaten by Yan An in the final.
World Junior Championships
The students had graduated, both had enjoyed success at the World Junior Championships.
Yan An had been a member of the Chinese gold medal winning Boys' Team on three occasions; success coming in Palo Alto in 2007, the following year in Madrid and in 2009 in Cartagena de Indias. Furthermore, he had won the Boys' Doubles title with Song Shichao in 2007 and harness with Song Hongyuan in 2008.
Meanwhile, in the Boys' Singles event it was annual progress. A quarter-finalist in Palo Alto, he progressed to the semi-finals in Madrid and in Cartagena de Indias he was the runner up.
Success at First Attempt
No Boys' Singles title for Yan An; not the situation for Fan Zhendong; one appearance and a somewhat surprise winner.
In Hyderabad in 2012, it was gold in the Boys' Team event, gold in the Mixed Doubles with Liu Gaoyang and silver in the Boys' Doubles with Fan Shengpeng. The Boys' Singles title was the icing on the cake and somewhat of a surprise.
Still in the cadet age group, he beat Lin Gaoyang in the final, the player who had been the runner up in Bratislava and Manama; it was to be a third silver medal for the quicksilver left hander. Power won the day.
Even Bigger Surprises
A somewhat surprise result but as the old year closed, Fan Zhendong caused even bigger surprises; shocks that the beginning of the year did not necessarily forecast.
He made his ITTF World Tour debut in Doha and, as status suggested, was beaten by Portugal's Marcos Freitas; then in Changchun at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour China Open he suffered defeat at hands of Yan An.
Learning the Trade
Neither defeat could have been considered a great surprise; a 16 year old was finding his feet, he was learning the trade, Marcos Freitas was far more experienced, Yan An was four years older.
Learning the trade, Fan Zhendong was learning fast and he was learning from defeat.
At the Asian Championships in the Korean city of Busan in early July, he was beaten by Japan's Kenta Matsudaira at the quarter-final stage of the Men's Singles event; four months later at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour Polish Open, the two met again, this time in the penultimate round. Fan Zhendong won in four straight games before arresting the title by overcoming colleague, Zhou Yu, in the final.
Stunning
The success in Poland was stunning, it was even more stunning when in the latter stages of the Men's Singles event at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour German Open he beat in succession Zhang Jike, Vladimir Samsonov and Dimitrij Ovtcharov to collect his second title in consecutive weeks.
Back-to-Back titles, eyes were focused very much on the teenager when he appeared in Stockholm; he was not to make it three in a row but he underlined the fact that when facing extreme pressure he could respond. He beat colleagues Zhou Yu and Xin Xin by the minimal two point margins in the quarter and semi-finals respectively.
They were performances which underlined the fact that his success in Poland and Germany was no flash in the pan.
Yan An beat Fan Zhendong in Sweden to colleague his first ever ITTF World Tour Men's Singles title
Photo by Irving Karlsson
Clear Signs
Fan Zhendong had made meteoric progress; the progress of Yan An was more measured but the equivalent of his teenage compatriot.
In August 2011, Yan An had given clear signs that an ITTF World Tour Men's Singles title was within his grasp; he reached the semi-final stage of the Men's Singles event at the Harmony Open in Suzhou beating Xu Xin in the quarter-finals, before losing to Zhang Jike.
Tested Ma Long
At the start of the year Yan An suffered a seven games quarter-final defeat in Kuwait against Japan's Jun Mizutani; one week later in Doha he negotiated his way past Zhang Jike, who retired injured at the end of the third game, before ousting Wang Hao to book his place in the final where he gave Ma Long a torrid time.
Yan An led by three games to two before Ma Long recovered to win by the very narrowest of margins, breathing a huge sigh of relief when victory was secured.
Notable Names
In Korea and in Changchun at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour China Open Yan An progressed to the semi-final stage of the Men's Singles losing to Xu Xin in the former, Ma Long in the latter.
Defeats against notable names and in the Middle East, the defeats had been by narrow margins; in Suzhou at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour Harmony Open it was the same scenario. In round two he was beaten by Japan's Koki Niwa in seven games, two points deciding the outcome.
Equally at the GAC Group Asian Cup in Hong Kong he reached the final losing to Xu Xin; just under three months later in July he experienced the same fate in the final of the Men's Singles event being beaten Ma Long.
Competitive
Win or lose, Yan An was competitive wherever he played; it was only a matter of time before the top step of the medal podium was attained, in Sweden the time came, the year end on a high note.
In 2013 both Fan Zhendong and Yan An have proved themselves players of the highest calibre, will 2014 be even more successful than the one that has gone before?
It is for Yan An and Fen Zhendong their first appearance in the Grand Finals; undoubtedly that will be a situation they relish, in 2013 they have rocketed to stardom, in Dubai sparks will fly.
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