2016 Rio Olympic Games
On her Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro HAN Ying was halted in the quarterfinals. World champion China’s DING Ning the Women’s Singles Event top seed ended the aspirations of Germany’s HAN Ying the no.5 seed (11-8 11-5 11-3 11-7).
The 33-year-old HAN had no chance. DING Ning justified her reputation as a true defense killer. Forehand top spin strokes with relentless efficiency directed to the body of her adversary took its toll as the contest progressed and Ding Ning became more relaxed the tirade gained in speed.
“She played even harder than usual I did not expect it. On the other side DING “read” my game very well. I’ve also heard that the Chinese women have increasingly trained to defense because I have won twice against CHEN Meng” said HAN Ying. “I had planned to attack more but during the game I realized that this is even more of a disadvantage. Then I played again passive. I tried everything but she was everywhere.”
Appearing in her fourth Olympic Games in Rio Ai FUKUHARA (JPN) was in top form against London 2012 Bronze medalist second seeded FENG Tianwei (SIN) to claim another 4-0 victory.
The Japanese sensation who has not dropped a single game throughout her run in Rio gave no chance to the 2010 World Team Champion to fight back prevailing 14-12 11-8 11-7 11-5 to reach the women’s singles semifinals.
This victory was a major breakthrough for FUKUHARA as her previous best Olympic Singles results was the quarterfinals in London where she lost to top seeded DING Ning.
“I still feel like I’m in a dream” shared FUKUAHRA after her epic victory. “It’s the Olympic Games upsets are normal. FENG is much stronger than me in terms of skills I would be happy to win half of our encounters. But Olympics is such a big match for me I have to go all out to play her. And that is the only thought I had in the match.”
Surprise defeat to FUKUHARA FENG’s colleague YU Mengyu of Singapore suffered the same fate under DPR Korea’s defender KIM Song I.
Ranked 50th in the world the fearless KIM has been unstoppable on her Olympic debut in Rio knocking out higher ranked players including world number six Kasumi ISHIKAWA (JPN).
In the semifinals face-off against YU KIM continued her winning streak for a 4-2 (11-8 6-11 11-5 11-6 9-11 11-6) victory over the Singaporean.
Kim was pleased with her performance over YU sharing “I am very happy. I am so proud that I could make such a good performance on the biggest stage. I was very in control more so than my opponent which was key for me today. I will do my best in the next round to do a good Performance in the next round.”
“It is a great honor to play here and with the world’s best players” added the 21-year-old.
The remaining two semifinals places went to China with Defending Champion LI Xiaoxia and reigning World Champion cruising past their opponents to reach top 4 of the Women’s Singles event.
Grand Slam Champion LI swept Chinese Taipei’s CHENG I-Ching 4-0 (11-5 11-5 11-6 11-6).
“I didn’t expect to win so easily against her. In her match yesterday she was leading 3-0 and won 4-3 so I think she’s in good form in Rio and I was ready to play full 7 games with her” said LI after the match. “It may seem easy that I won all my three matches 4-0 but I was in fact nervous during my preparations and trainings for my all my matches. It could be because of the tense atmosphere so I can’t let my guards down in my preparations.”
