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Thursday, September 18, 2008

8:56 PM

ITTF Junior Circuit Taiyuan, China Open - Xue Jie add to Singapore's Gold Medal Tally

Singapore's fifteen year old Pang Xue Jie won the Cadet Boys' Singles title at the Taiyuan Junior Open on Thursday 18th September 2008, beating China's Liu Chang, Egypt's Omar Bedir and Korea's Noh Je Min en route to a final encounter with a second Korean, Cho Jae Jun.

In the gold medal match, Pang Xue Jie prevailed in five games to collect his third career Cadet Boys' Singles title on the ITTF Junior Circuit. In 2007 he won in Bahrain and Doha.

Pang Xue Jie defeated Cho Jae Jun 18-16, 13-11, 5-11, 13-11, 11-6.

The match was a contest between two exciting young prospects in the world of table tennis, both left handed, both athletic and both noisy! They encouraged themselves verbally between every point. Two young men giving one hundred per cent effort, total commitment; committed to the very end, it was not a heavyweight contest, more lightweight, speed a quick reactions to the fore.

The victor Pang Xue Jie is one of the most well mannered and respectful young men you could ever wish to meet. He is modest in victory, magnanimous in defeat.

Tough Finals or sure the toughest match was the finals, said Pang Xue Jie. It was the first time I had ever played Cho Jae Jun but I have seen him play before; I knew how he played. No doubt he did, he played in a very similar fashion to Xue Jie!

"I think the main reason I won today was that my service and first attack was good" continued Pang Xue Jie. His biggest problem was returning his services; his services were good, difficult to read.

Pang Xue Jie coped with the situation but the crucial factor in the contest was that he won the close games. "I won the first, second and fourth games by only two points" he explained. explainning those three games so closely made all the difference.

Victory for Pang Xue Jie who had not gone through the whole tournament without his problems; in the group stage, one day earlier, he had lost to Lee Seung Yeop of Korea and only progressed to the main draw on games ratio.

He was within a whisker of not even qualifying for the second stage!

It was a good day for Coach Cui Wei. Like Isabelle Li, who some twenty minutes earlier had won the Cadet Girls' Singles crown, Pang Xue Jie attends the Singapore Sports School and is coached by Cui Wei.

It was a good day in Taiyuan for Singapore and both victors, who spoke English fluently, showed themselves to be fine athletes, fine adverts for Singapore, fine adverts for table tennis.