Local favorite Zhang Jike had just 30 minutes to prepare himself for Tuesday night's All-Star Challenge Asian event, which saw the Chinese table tennis sensation help the Asian team lead Europe 3-2.
The 23-year-old Zhang, who beat current world No. 1 Timo Boll to win the German Open on the latter's home soil last Sunday, took a next-day flight and reached a hotel in Beijing at 1630 local time on Tuesday, before he left for the March 1-2 All-Stars at 1700.
"It's a rare experience for me. I've never been in such a rush before getting into a serious game," said Zhang after presenting the third game of Tuesday night and beating Belarus veteran Vladimir Samsonov in straight sets, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8.
"I'm physically ok. Maybe a little bit tired. But Samsonov is either not in his best form after a series of Opens," added the Asian side's No. 1 seed. "Both of us were uncomfortable against each other since it's our first matchup, but what's more important for me is that I've played my own game."
Boll, unlike Zhang, didnot play the late-on men's doubles event of the German Open and arrived here on Monday afternoon, just 24 hours ahead of the Asia-vs-Europe event and in time for the pre-match press conference. He came back to beat the in-sick Japanese Jun Mizutani 6-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-8.
The other game Tuesday night having ended in favor of the European team was between Hong Kong's Tang Peng and Romania's Adrian Crisan, which won by Crisan in full sets, 8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8.
Earlier on, South Korea's most famed chopper Joo Se-Hyuk eased past Portuguese Tiago Apolonia 11-8, 11-8, 11-7, and Chuan Chih-Yuan of Chinese Taipei trashed out former world cup holder Werner Schlager of Austria 11-7, 13-11, 12-10.
Wednesday's remaining fixtures of the table tennis All-Star challenge will see re-rivalry of Zhang Jike and Boll, while other members of each team will go head-to-head following representative seedings.
The 2011 All-Star challenge is the third edition of the Asia vs Europe event co-hosted by the Asian and European federations of table tennis associations. The former two editions all concluded in Asia's favor.
The return leg in Europe will be in Minsk in the last week of Octorber.
