FOSHAN, China -- American Eric Boggan dealt a stunning upset Thursday to Chinese world champion Jiang Jialiang on the opening day of the $55,000 World Cup Table Tennis Championships.
Boggan, 21, ranked 33rd in the world, captured a 15-21, 21-18, 21-18 victory in a 45-minute match in Group A preliminary games.
Boggan began to take control near the end of the first set. After two ties in the hard-fought second set, Boggan spiked repeatedly to win that and then continued his success into the final set to take the match.
The young American then beat Poland's Leszek Kucharski in the thirdmatch in Group A.
Boggan will meet 15th-ranked Miyazak Yoshihito of Japan on Friday.
A total of 16 world-class players, chosen by the International Table Tennis Federation, are competing on a round-robin basis in four preliminary groups for eight places in the quarterfinals.
The preliminary matches end Friday and the top two players from each group will advance to Saturday's quarterfinals.
