SHENZHEN, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Second-seeded Timo Boll of Germany was defeated by 21-year-old Chinese player Liang Jingkun at Men's singles round of 16 at the 2018 ITTF World Tour China Open on Friday。
The scores were 5-11,11-9,12-10, 7-11, 4-11, 11-9, 11-5 in favor of Liang.
"Liang played really well, he deserved the win. You can't say I played bad, but I suffered from concentration problems and pressure in key moments." Boll said after the game.
The China Open have attracted several young German players like Patrick Franziska and Kilian Ort.
"It's good for German young players to compete with the best players in the world. There were already tremendous and exciting games in the first round, so it's a high quality tournament, some unexpected losses gonna happen in the round of 16, it's not a surprise now." said Boll.
"I am an old player now, but I still have fun to compete with young guys," Boll turned 37 in March this year, "I'm happy that I still play at high level. Many younger players showed up, it's getting tougher and tougher, but I will try my best."