Maria Liu thrashes Ivy Crawford in Women’s Singles tie of 2012 NZ Secondary Schools Championships
Women’s Singles shuttler Maria Liu of Burnside High played impeccable badminton and outshined Ivy Crawford in NZCT NZ Secondary Schools Championships on Wednesday, September 5, 2012.
This epic tussle lasted for three exhausting sets and both shuttlers entertained the audience with a fine show of skills in the local badminton arena of Christchurch, New Zealand.
However, Maria displayed superior finishing skills and locked the honour with a favourable result of 17-21, 21-8 and 21-18.
Ivy Crawford, who was representing Waikato Diocesan, failed to make best out of her initial advantage and surrendered in ending two games.
The opening set of the match saw her in prime touch as she established an unassailable lead without wasting any time and enjoyed the upper hand until last shot was played.
In first half of the set, Ivy started the ball rolling by gathering few uninterrupted points and then carried this momentum in next couple of rallies.
Though, she faltered just before the interval which allowed the opposing shuttler to narrow the gap but Ivy reinstated her dominance immediately after the break.
She kept her rival at the lower end until game point situation and swept the table with an overwhelming figure of 21-17.
However, it proved her last success in this showdown as Maria showed strong character in following games and sealed a splendid win.
This time she played with a positive approach and gained an early advantage. She pushed her challenger in all areas of the court and strengthened her grip by controlling the overall pace of the rallies.
At half time, Maria was in a commanding position with an indomitable total of 11 and she relished full benefits of this lead in later part of the game.
She maintained a significant difference of 13 points and finished the second set with 21-8 margin.
With this revised match score position, the decider became consequential and both contenders put all in their possession to survive this nerve-racking battle.
They remained close on points table until third quarter of the set but Maria tipped the scale in her favour with some successive points. She raised her hands as victor after putting up a decisive figure of 21-18.
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