"All I wanna do is go the distance," said Sylvester Stallone as the titular pugilist in "Rocky" as he prepares to face the heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed. "Nobody's ever gone the distance with Creed, and if I can go that distance, you see, and that bell rings and I'm still standing, I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood." At the 2020 ITTF Men's World Cup in Weihai, China, the meanest heavyweights in the world gathered for a slugfest. In order to reach the knockout rounds with the top eight seeds, 13 players would compete in four round-robin groups for the eight available spots. The lone American delegate at the convention, Kanak Jha, found himself in Group 2 with two formidable champs. In the group's first match, the top seed, Liam Pitchford of England, made quick work of Taiwanese veteran Chuang Chih-Yuan, posting a 4-1 victory. Next, Pitchford took on his American challenger, Kanak Jha. The match goes the distance, but Pitchford puts on a master class the 7th, smacking inside-out forehands clean past Jha for an easy 11-4 win in the only game that matters. With only two spots available, the last match would determine who would join Pitchford in the main draw Saturday: the up-and-coming Kanak Jha or the veteran Chuang Chih-Yuan. Of course, this match goes the distance as well. In the deciding seventh game, Chuang, leading 9-7, gets an edge ball for triple match point. As deflating as this must have been, a fighter like Jha never gives up. Serving, Jha's third ball catches the net to cut the deficit to two. Then, it is Chuang's serve with two match points on his racket. Jha, looking to flick with his trusty backhand, elects to push at the last second. Chuang pushes it long, bringing the improbable comeback one step closer to the realm of possibility. Serving at 10-9, Chuang is ready for Jha's backhand flick. He seemed unprepared, however, when Jha caught an edge of his own with his second backhand bullet. Just like that, it was deuce in the seventh game! On and on it went, 11-all, 12-all, Jha saving two more match points along the way. After a furious counterlooping rally, Chuang served holding his sixth match point. They traded pushes until Jha seized the initiative, flicking a forehand crosscourt. Chuang, as if expecting it, countered with a deadly forehand loop kill marked "return to sender." Final score, Chuang Chih-Yuan defeats Kanak Jha, (10-12, 11-7, 11-3, 11-7, 6-11, 8-11, 14-12). Chuang and Jha were the very portrait of parity, the two warriors at opposite ends of their career arcs who just so happened to intersect when their levels were exactly equal. Although he is not quite ready for the heavyweight title, Kanak Jha has just gone the distance with not one but two of the greatest players in the world. He clearly weren't just another bum from the neighborhood.

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