Photo courtesy of ITTF
Henzell’s firing in Beijing

William Henzell has just beaten the Number 58 in the World, Lundquist from Sweden, to progress to the 2nd Round in the Mens Singles at the Beijing Olympics. Henzell went up 2-0 in 2 really close sets but Lundquist fought back to 2 all.

The 5th Set Proved Decisive

Henzell shot out to a 8-2 lead and looked certain to take the set but the Number 58 in the world had other ideas. Lundquist fought back to 8-5 and then Henzell called a timeout. This didn’t stop the momentum of the Swede and Lundquist went ahead 9-10 and held the first set point. Now it was Henzells turn to deal with the pressure and he responed well saving the set point and then taking the set 12-10 to take a 3-2 lead in the match

Unstoppable

The 6th set went point for point and was level at 3-3. Then Henzell stepped up his game and really applied the pressure. He took the next 8 points to win the set 11-3 and the match. What a fantastic result on the biggest stage. Well done William Henzell, you’ve made Australia proud.

Jae Young Yoon

Henzell now faces Jae Young Yoon from Korea in the next round. It is going to be a tough match but Henzell’s form is excellent so far in this tournament and I believe he has a good chance to progress further in this tournament. Earlier in the teams matches Henzell played a magnificent match against Wang Liqin of China and lost 3-1 but had set points in the second set after winning the first and led in the 3rd and 4th sets but could not get over the line. I think that these results backed with his excellent form over the entire last year will give him the belief needed to go to the next level. Come on Henzell, all of Australia is behind you.

Miao Miao

In the Womens Miao Miao had a sensational win over Irina Kotikhina from Russia. The match was an epic going down to the wire. Miao rushed to a 2-0 lead with 2 close sets just as Henzell did. Then Kotikhina fought back to 2 all. However this match ended up going the full distance. With the match tied at 3 sets all, Miao drew on all her courage and pulled out of a tight 7th set winning it 11-9. The full score was 11:9 15:13 5:11 10:12 11:8 4:11 11:9.

Miao then progressed to the next round but went down to Ye Seo Dang of Korea 4-1. Miao has previously done well at the Olympics when she made the Quarter finals of the doubles in Sydney 2000 with Shirley Zhou. Congratulations Miao on another brilliant Olympics.

This now leaves Stephanie Sang as our last remaining Woman in the Singles event. Stephanie received a walk over against Svetlana Ganina from Russia yesterday and now faces Xue Wu in the next round.

Good Luck

Good luck to both Stephanie Sang and William Henzell of Australia as they battle it out today.