‘Dazed’ Ding takes sweet Rio revenge on Li

AFP, RIO DE JANEIRO: China’s Ding Ning won the women’s Olympic table tennis title on Wednesday, beating her team boss Li Xiaoxia to avenge the bitter defeat she suffered to her compatriot in London 2012.
Four years after losing the title in acrimonious circumstances when she became embroiled in a row with the referee, Ding, nicknamed ‘big baby’, finally won the gold she had hankered after so dearly.
The top seed prevailed in seven sets 11-9, 5-11, 14-12, 9-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7 to complete the grand slam of World Championship, World Cup and now Olympic titles.
China have won every women’s singles title since table tennis was introduced in Seoul in 1988, and are on course to complete a third successive cleansweep of golds after dominating in Beijing and London.
Ding claimed the opening set in eight minutes against her friend-colleague-training partner and, for this encounter as she noted, arch rival, who took only seven minutes to bring the match back level.
Left-hand attacker Ding, in bright pink, then scraped the third 14-12.
Li though, two years her elder, was not in the mood to relinquish her title without a battle, pocketing the fourth game.
The balance of power swung Li’s way then as the third seed came out on top in a pulsating 25-stroke rally on her way to the fifth set.
With her second tilt at the Olympic title slipping from her grasp Ding dug deep to take the sixth game 11-7 to send the final into a nerve-jangling decider.
With concentration at its maximum, the 26-year-old hunched over the ball before her serve like a scientist over a microscope.

 

Dazed Ding takes sweet Rio revenge on Li

AFP, RIO DE JANEIRO: Chinas Ding Ning won the womens Olympic table tennis title on Wednesday, beating her team boss Li Xiaoxia to avenge the bitter defeat she suffered to her compatriot in London 2012. Four years after losing the title in acrimonious circumstances when she became embroiled in a row with the referee, Ding, nicknamed big baby, finally won the gold she had hankered after so dearly. The top seed prevailed in seven sets 11-9, 5-11, 14-12, 9-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7 to complete the grand slam of World Championship, World Cup and now Olympic titles. China have won every womens singles title since table tennis was introduced in Seoul in 1988, and are on course to complete a third successive cleansweep of golds after dominating in Beijing and London. Ding claimed the opening set in eight minutes against her friend-colleague-training partner and, for this encounter as she noted, arch rival, who took only seven minutes to bring the match back level. Left-hand attacker Ding, in bright pink, then scraped the third 14-12. Li though, two years her elder, was not in the mood to relinquish her title without a battle, pocketing the fourth game. The balance of power swung Lis way then as the third seed came out on top in a pulsating 25-stroke rally on her way to the fifth set. With her second tilt at the Olympic title slipping from her grasp Ding dug deep to take the sixth game 11-7 to send the final into a nerve-jangling decider. With concentration at its maximum, the 26-year-old hunched over the ball before her serve like a scientist over a microscope.