Zhengming Wang beats Arif Latif in opening round of 2013 Badminton Asia Championships
Men’s Singles campaigner Zhengming Wang of China had a dream start in Badminton Asia Championships as he cleared first hurdle without any trouble on Wednesday, April 17, 2013.
He was up against the Malaysian shuttler Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif and this encounter prolonged to 37 minutes before ending with concluding figures of 21-18 and 21-19.
Zhengming, who was underrated earlier in this tournament, alarmed all the contestants with a splendid performance in the first set and served the notice of his potential in second set of the match.
On the other hand, Arif Latif failed to pocket even a single match point and crashed out of this tournament in a woeful manner.
In the opening game, the Chinese shuttler unleashed a flurry of power packed strokes and registered a respectable total in no time. He capitalised this initial lead and doubled the total by prevailing in few back-to-back rallies.
This unbeatable strategy helped Zhengming to finish first half of the set with a favourable score position.
After the one-minute interval, he made some mistakes and allowed the opposing shuttler to proceed on the points table.
The Malaysian campaigner did not fritter away this opportunity and stormed back into the contest. He bagged many valuable points without any interruption and levelled the score.
Both contenders stood toe-to-toe until the game point situation and this cliff-hanging set ended when Zhengming registered a concluding total of 21-18.
Next game started with both players putting all they had to gain an early advantage. They displayed commendable craft and made the crowd gasp.
Though, Arif Latif challenged his higher ranked rival in all departments of game and it was felt that he will turn his rival’s plans into dust but then a below par performance jeopardised his stakes.
The game kept swinging between them until half time but then Zhengming geared up himself and gained the control of rallies.
He played with an authoritative approach and piled a dominating margin of 11. The latter part of game started with both Men’s Singles expert making every effort to oust each other.
They remained equal until the final moments but then Chinese shuttler showed superior finishing skills and locked the honour with 21-19 score.
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