London Olympics 2012: Sho Sasaki defeats Kevin Cordon to surge into Men’s Singles quarter-final
Japan’s experienced shuttler Sho Sasaki continued his positive run as he secured a place into Men’s Singles quarter-final after beating Guatemala’s Kevin Cordon in round-of-16 contest at the London Olympics 2012 on Wednesday, August 1, in London.
The left-handed Sasaki, who is World Number 7 and 6th seed in Men’s Singles draw at Olympics, worked hard against his spirited opponent and managed to win the battle with a reasonable difference.
The higher ranked Sasaki had to dig into his arsenal to produce impressive shots at the ending stage of opening set and took it with a narrow margin. However, he was comfortable in the following game and sealed it off with a wonderful difference to grab
victory in straight games.
The in-form Cordon, on the other hand, put up strong show in opening set of the contest as he troubled his rival all the way but remained unlucky in ending points and lost the game.
The talented shuttler from Guatemala failed to play his normal game in the following set and lost it with a huge margin.
The sixth seeded Japanese shuttler tried his best to take a comfortable lead at the initial stage of opening game of this pre-quarter-final battle but his opponent proved to be a tough nut to crack as he played passionately and remained close until the break.
After the mid-game interval, Sasaki geared up his speed and played wonderful shots at net but Cordon had effective answers of all of shots came from the racquet of Japanese and remained stick around until 21-21.
Sasaki played with precision at this stage and remained successful in reeled off two straight points to grab the game with a tight score of 23-21.
In the second game, the competition was again tough as both shuttlers remained close at opening stage. However, Sasaki created a reasonable gap until the one-minute break.
After the mid-game interval, the in-form Japanese shuttler continued playing positive badminton and easily ended up the set with a huge difference of 21-10.
The spirited Sasaki ousted Cordon by ending up the match in straight sets with a convincing 23-21 and 21-10 score on the board.
Sasaki will face the World Number One Lin Dan of China in the quarter-final showdown of the mega event.
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