huaiwei

But the magic of Wu Xue seems to be cast again. She begins to threaten Guo Yue, with both reaching 11-11!

The second and third guns of the Chinese table tennis machine are now blasting their opponents relentlessly. China's Guo Yue already took the first game 11-5 against surprise performer Wu Xue of the Dominican Republic. China's third seed Wang Nan effortlessly races ahead to a 9-3 lead over Hong Kong's Tie Yana.

Ah! And the "inevitable" happens. Zhang wins the fifth game 13-11. Although the final tally reads 4-1, check out the margins: 13-11; 12-14; 14-12; 12-10; 13-11. Every single game was won by the narrowest of margin, each pushed beyond the minimum 11 points needed to win the match. Feng, you have done exceedingly well. You can smile again, just as the Singapore women's team smiled despite loosing to China in the team event finals, so much so that foreign journalist found it strange and asked why they smiled so brightly despite loosing! Because you have done your best in the spirit of sports, just as all outstanding sportspeople do! Congratulations to you, and also for Zhang!

Wahahaha. 11-11! Good job Feng!

And over at the other match between top seed Zhang Yining of China and 6th seed Feng Tianwei of Singapore, Feng is putting up a feisty display to hold Zhang as long as she could. Its their fifth game, and although Zhang has already taken three games with one more to go, its a narrow match at almost every step of the way. In fact, they are tied at 8-8 again now! Go Singapore!

Alright half my posts ended up in the wrong place over at http://www.gamesbids.com/forums/index.php?...mp;#entry182041 The women's' singles quarter-finals are still on-going, and as I speak, Li Jiawei wins the match 3-1 over Wang Chen and proceeds to the semi-finals. The glittering medal is once again within her reach. Will history repeat itself and deny her that opportunity, or will she ignore past ghosts and make a personal triumph in her sporting career! We shall see tomorrow!

LOL! In my excitement I posted everything in the wrong thread! The story continues http://www.gamesbids.com/forums/index.php?...mp;#entry182016 My bad!

And Li drops her fourth game to Wang 13-15. Very close fight all the way, but this time, its Wang who held on to her nerves. Jiawei....keep cool and the game is yours! Go Singapore!!

In the other match, this time, Li races ahead, only for Wang to catch up later. Its 10-10 now. Singapore Jiayou!!!

And Zhang takes the third game 14-12. Three extremely close matches in a row. Feng...you have succeeded already to make Zhang sweat....I salute you!!

11-11 between Zhangi and Feng!!! Woah!!!

Feng is just not going to give Zhang an easy win...if the later wins that is. Its tied at 8-8 now. The third time they are neck to neck in as many games! Go Singapore!!!

And Li managed to win 12-10. One more win and she goes into the semifinals, but hope she maintains her cool under pressure!

Now its 6-6 at one table and 10-10 on the other. Geez. Btw Li seems to be showing signs of impatience again after taking two matches. She allowed Wang to take too many points at the start of the game, catching up only later.

YES!!! Feng Tingwei takes the second game 14-12!!! Who gives a hoot about the seeding and ranking! Go Singapore!!!

My God Feng is holding top player Zhang at 11-11 again!!

Another round of close matches....its 8-8 between Zhang/Feng and 8-6 between Li/Wang. Go Singapore! Feng Tianwei....give the mighty Chinese a shock...again!

The women's singles quarter-finals are underway and both of Singapore's players are playing at the same time. The scoreline now is crazy... Zhang Yining from China just took the first game 13-11 against Feng Tianwei from Singapore. Li Jiawei from Singapore took the first game 15-13 against Wang Chen from the United States. At one point, both tables are seeing level scores at 11-11 and 13-13!

Singapore's Stefanie Sun will perform at the show. I suppose we might be expecting a barrage of Chinese singing?

We have also just seen the last 16 male single players to emerge from the competition venue, and what a surprise it has been for many. Five seeds fell to their opponents, including the 6th and 7th seeds. The nationality and ethnic backgrounds of these players are also distinctively far more diverse compared to the women's event: Austria Werner Schlager Bulgaria Vladimir Samsonov China Wang Hao Wang Liqin Ma Lin Croatia Zoran Primorac Tan Ruiwu Germany Dimitrij Ovtcharov Timo Boll Greece Kalinikos Kreanga Hong Kong, China Ko Lai Chak Li Ching Japan Kan Yo Singapore Yang Zi South Korea Oh Sang Eun Sweden Jörgen Persson Of these, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Werner Schlager and Oh Sang Eun nearly failed to advance, requiring seven games to beat their opponents.

The singles events has been underway for a few days now, and we have has some interesting things happening there. In the women's events, I noticed with some amusement that the final 16 players are all ethnically East Asian. We have: Austria Li Qiangbing China Zhang Yining Wang Nan Guo Yue Dominican Republic Wu Xue Hong Kong, China Lin Ling Tie Yana Japan Fukuhara Ai Netherlands Li Jie Singapore Feng Tianwei Li Jiawei South Korea Kim Kyung-Ah Park Mi-Young United States Wang Chen Gao Jun Out of the above 16, four beat their seeded opponents. Eventually, the following made it into the last eight: China Zhang Yining Wang Nan Guo Yue Dominican Republic Wu Xue Hong Kong, China Tie Yana Singapore Feng Tianwei Li Jiawei United States Wang Chen Wu Xue? Yes Wu Xue! The only unseeded player to advance to the last eight! Congrats!

Heard Chong Wei has now become a "victim" of fierce politiking back in Penang?

Hehe as mischievous as the thought might be, I do happen to be rooting for Britain to finish 3rd just to keep Russia out as well!

Indeed, and I was delighted to note that currently, three Southeast Asian nations, namely Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam share the same position on the medal tally. And that's Malaysia's first medal for 12 years, Singapore's first medal for 48 years, and Vietnam's first medal for 8 years. TO understand how significant this is to all three countries involved, Malaysia now has 2 silvers and 2 bronzes in its entire Olympic carrier, while both Singapore and Vietnam has 2 silvers each since they participated in the games. Here's a toast to all!

Indeed they must be the best performers of the entire Badminton tournament. They are the only unseeded player/team to enter the finals in any of the five events, defeating two seeded teams en-route to winning their gold. An amazing run indeed in an event which also saw the shock exit of the top Chinese pair to the unknowns from the UK. It has been a delight following the tournaments!