Wei Feng Chong stuns Kenichi Tago to surge into pre quarter-finals of 2012 Japan Open
The budding Malaysian shuttler Wei Feng Chong proved his worth in the opening round of Yonex Japan Open as he confound Kenichi Tago on Wednesday, September 19, 2012.
This epic Men’s Singles tie prolonged for 56 minutes before ending with final figures of 8-21, 21-16 and 21-17.
Both contenders put all they had to oust each other and earned a great deal of respect for their fighting spirit.
However, luck was not on Kenichi Tago’s side as he had to bid adieu to the home event after receiving a severe blow of a 1-2 defeat.
World number nine shuttler, who was one of the frontrunners in this tournament, failed to make the best out of his first set win and allowed the lower ranked rival to secure a berth in the pre quarter-finals.
The unseeded shuttler Wei Feng performed beyond expectations and setup next clash with another higher ranked challenger Ajay Jayaram of India.
Malaysian campaigner had a dreadful start as he lost first set with a huge difference of 13 points.
Kenichi Tago established his grip with a dominating total of 11-5 and then capitalised this initial advantage to bag first set with an indomitable score position of 21-8.
However, he lost that touch in the very next game and frittered away a golden chance of straight-set win. He made some back-to-back mistakes after 7-3 and this demise helped the opposing shuttler to rise from the dust.
Wei Feng started making progress with couple of successive points and established a decent lead in 11-8 total.
He carried this rhythm all the way to game point situation and setup a nerve-racking decider with an impressive knock of 21-16.
The third set saw both contenders making every effort to reserve the right to be in the round of 16.
They challenged each other in all areas of the game until mid-game break and neither of them could leave the opponent far behind.
The match kept swinging between them and this cliff-hanging tussle ended when Wei Feng gathered valuable points in a row and tipped the scale in his favour with a winning margin of 21-17.
Tags: