By Klansman Amoakohene
After six days of breathtaking table tennis at INSPIRE Arena, WTT Champions Incheon 2025 has found its champions. Two warriors have emerged from the storm — Wang Yidi and Xiang Peng — each with a crown forged infront of roaring fans.
Returning for its second edition after a blockbuster debut in 2024, Incheon has once again delivered a spectacle of heart, grit and greatness. As the sixth stop on the 2025 WTT Series, the drama inside Infinity∞Arena this week has been unmatched—from shock upsets to local dreams, from teenage stardom to final-day domination. And now, the chapter closes with two champions who stood tallest at the summit.
In the Women’s Singles semifinals, top seed Wang Yidi held off a fierce challenge from former World No.1 Zhu Yuling in a five-game contest 4-1 (11-8, 11-7, 3-11, 11-6, 11-7) where Wang’s composure under pressure sealed the win. On the other side of the draw, 16-year-old Miwa Harimoto continued to dazzle but fell to the experience and precision of No.2 seed Chen Xingtong, who booked back-to-back WTT Champions finals with a 4-2 victory (11-4, 5-11, 11-5, 11-7, 5-11, 11-6).
The Men’s Singles semifinals was a cauldron of noise and national pride as Lee Sang Su ignited the home crowd with an epic six-game 4-2 win (5-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-2, 8-11, 11-9) over Lin Yun-Ju, cementing his greatest-ever WTT Champions run and moving within one step of rewriting Korean table tennis history. Meanwhile, Xiang Peng stood tall against Patrick Franziska in a firestorm of powerful rallies, closing out a 4-2 victory (11-9, 14-12, 11-13, 11-8, 4-11, 11-7) that signalled the 22-year-old’s arrival among the elite.
In one of the greatest Women’s Singles finals ever seen on WTT’s stage, Wang Yidi and Chen Xingtong went the distance in a seven-game war that had fans out of their seats and holding their breath. It was a battle of equals, a back-and-forth epic that saw Wang edge ahead, only for Chen to steal momentum with a stunning fourth-game comeback.
But Wang, driven by the weight of six straight finals defeats since her last WTT title, summoned something deeper. She roared back, taking the fifth and sixth games to force a decider—and with the crowd roaring and her nerves steeled, Wang emerged victorious 4-3 (11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 12-14, 11-9, 11-6, 12-10), finally breaking her title drought since 2023 and claiming her second WTT Champions crown.
Over in the Men’s Singles finals, the energy was electric, the expectations sky-high. Korea Republic held its breath as Lee Sang Su prepared to make history. But it was Xiang Peng who turned the final into a statement. Ruthless. Relentless. Unstoppable.
Xiang delivered a masterclass that stunned the Infinity∞Arena into silence and then back into awe. With precision footwork and unstoppable momentum, the 22-year-old Chinese star bulldozed to a straight-games victory, 4-0 (11-8, 11-0, 11-3, 11-4), ending Lee’s dream run and lifting his very first WTT Champions trophy. It was a performance that stamped his authority not just on Incheon, but on the season ahead.
