Li Xuerui ensures her presence in quarter-final round of 2013 Badminton Asia Championships
China’s Li Xuerui played impeccable badminton in pre quarter-final round of Badminton Asia Championships and secured a quarter-final berth on Thursday, April 18, 2013.
She locked horns with Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand and their meeting prolonged to 51 minutes before ending with decisive figures of 21-17, 17-21 and 21-10.
The Olympic gold medallist Li Xuerui served the notice of her supremacy in the opening and ending games whereas the Thai campaigner could pocket only the second match point.
In first set of the match, the Chinese badminton queen launched an intensive attack and pushed her rival on the back foot.
She did not show any mercy in next couple of rallies and piled up a mountainous figure in no time. This initial lead helped her to finish first half of the set with a respectable score position.
After the mid-game break, Sapsiree showed some aggression on the court and brought life back into the contest. She bagged many points without any interruption and narrowed the gap on points table.
At this point, it was felt that Li Xuerui has lost the grip over game but then she proved all the estimates wrong and swept the table with an overwhelming figure of 21-17.
However, story was entirely different in very next game as the Thai shuttler showed a transformed character and turned her rival’s plans into dust.
Sapsiree laid foundation of her dominance in the establishing rallies and maintained that upper hand all the way to game point situation.
At first, she mounted pressure by getting into commanding position before interval and then magnified the impact by ruling the court in third quarter of the set. Her hard work paid off and she won this crucial set with 21-17 score on the board.
With this development, the decider put both shuttlers in do-or-die situation. They made every effort to oust each other and earned lot of admiration for their honest effort.
However, the Chinese campaigner showed superior finishing skills and dominated the second half of the set. She maintained a significant difference of eleven points and locked the honour with an impressive result of 21-10.
Tags: