by Neha Aggarwal
He beat the second seed of the tournament, Japan’s Yukiya Uda in a match that seems comfortable if scores are kept into consideration but was a thriller.
Li Hsin-Yang won in five games (4-11, 11-9, 14-12, 11-4, 13-11) to shock the world no.11 rated junior player.
“Honestly, before the match, I did not expect to win.” said Li Hsin-Yang. “My services were really good today, and I attacked well on the third balls” he added.
In the fifth game, Yukiya lead 11-10 but Li Hsin-Yang had some other plans. His became further consistent to force Yukiya for an error. At 12-11, Li Hsin-Yang’s push touched the net and the ball dropped right near the net which was too short for Yukiya to even react, giving Li Hsin-Yang the final point and thus the entire match.
“Yukiya had some good balls to finish off strong in many rallies, but he missed at many occasions. That made me very confident” revealed Li Hsin-Yang.
Drenched in sweat, Li Hsin-Yang took a moment to realize the importance of the victory. He said, “I am glad I was able to won today, looks like India is my lucky place.”
In the third round of the qualification stage, he will play against Thailand’s Yanapong Panagitgun on Friday 27th January at 10:45am IST. “I beat him last year at the Asian Championships, that too 3-0. I feel confident for tomorrow’s game”, he said in a reflective tone.
