Uber Cup Preliminary Round: Yang Li Lian steals limelight after winning final fight against India
Malaysia’s young shuttler Yang Li Lian stole the limelight when she delivered a stunning performance and won the third and final Women’s Singles fight against India in the Uber Cup Qualifying Round in Macau, on Tuesday, Februarys 14.
With her victory in the decisive battle, Li Lian helped her team to win against India with a 3-2 margin in the qualifying round.
No one was expecting such a fabulous performance from Li Lian who is appearing for the first time in Uber Cup. She delivered the crucial point and has made the chances bright for her team to reach in the quarter-final.
In the deciding contest, Li Lian was up against India’s Sayali Gokhale has a good experience of playing in international events. However, the Malaysian played steady badminton and won the match in three games.
In the first set, Li Lian failed to live up to expectations as the Indian was in complete control of the pace of rallies. The Malaysian lady remained trailing far behind and lost the set with a huge difference of 11-21.
Nevertheless, Li Lian made a strong come back as she played dominating game in the second set and won it with a 21-15 score on the board.
In the deciding game, Li Lian was trailing miles behind at 2-11 until the one minute interval. However, surprisingly, she lifted up her level of play after the break and stunned the Indian by winning the final set with a tight margin of 22-20.
The ending score of this thrilling fight was 11-21, 21-15 and 22-20.
After winning the battle, Li Lian said that she was not even expecting to be fielded in the match and also got surprised with her tremendous performance.
She said, "I didn't think too much when I was trailing 2-11 and just wanted to take as many points as I could. I am delighted that I became the hero of the team. I just focused on reducing my mistakes and I started closing the gap, I guess my opponent became
nervous.”
She further added, "It was a really a wonderful moment for me as I didn't even expect to win as I was only a reserve. However, I told myself I will win a point for Malaysia and I am happy to achieve that."
Rexy Mainaky, the national coach, was also happy with this exceptional performance from Li Lian. Today, India will take on China and if Chinese shuttlers win the battle, then Malaysia will qualify for the quarter-final.
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