The Indian disposed of Foo 4-1 (11-6, 11-5, 15-13, 5-11,
18-16) in 41 minutes, which included two games that stretched every sinew of
the left-handed Yadav and tested his patience to no end. He will now meet the
top-seeded Chinese Zhendong Fan in the semi-final later this evening. The
Chinese beat Taipei ’s
Chia-Hung Sun in straight games.
With no play-off, both the losing semi-finalists will be
awarded bronze medals.
“I am completely drained out. Two big games, particularly
the last one, sapped my energy. But I held my nerve to go past him (Foo),” said
Yadav. Asked about his opponent in semi-final, Yadav said he was wary of the
Chinese. “I will play to my strength and let’s see,” he said.
Yadav had the measure of his rival in the first two games,
but in the third from 9-7 allowed the Malaysian come back and level the score
first at 9-9. From there, the see-saw battle continued with none giving a
quarter to the other. For the first the Malaysian went 12-11 up before Yadav
caught up with him to make 13-13. That was also the end of resistance from Foo
as the Indian took the next two points to go 3-0 up, the fifth game taking full
10 minutes.
However, the Malaysian took the fourth to keep himself in
the match. Then the real marathon began and Yadav, leading 6-4, in the fifth
game allowed Foo take charge. He surged ahead to 10-8 but Yadav on his serve
equalled the score to breathe easy. At 16-icture seemed gloomy for the Indian
as Foo was not only returning well but was catching his rival on the wrong
foot. Then came the turning point as Yadav served and returned well to go up
17-16 and waited to cash in on Foo’s mistake when he served next to take the
game and match in 12 minutes.
Team manager Jayesh Acharya was happy for Abhishek. “It was
a crucial game (fifth) and what impressed me was the way Abhishek won those
crucial points,” said Acharya. “We came to the Games with two paddlers
and am happy we will not go empty-handed,” he remarked.
Press release
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