Last place on the list of qualifiers and within in one match of notprogressing past the first stage of proceedings on the opening day ofplay at the Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals, Chinese Taipei’s 19 yearold Chiang Hung-Chieh, emerged as the Under 21 Men’s Singles championin the Macau Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion, late in the afternoon ofFriday 12th December 2008.
At the final hurdle he beat the topseed and the player who had finished the year in the number one spot inthe Under 21 Men’s Singles Standings, Portugal’s Marcos Freitas, tocapture gold.
Chiang Hung-Chieh won 4-11, 10-12, 12-10, 11-7, 11-8, 11-8.
Eleventh Place
Followingthe conclusion of the Polish Open in November, the final openinternational tournament on the 2008 ITTF Pro Tour, Chiang Hung-Chiehoccupied 11th place on the Under 21 Men’s Singles Standings.
However,three players above him had not met the requirement of competing infour events on two continents; the players in question being Korea’sLee Jin Kwon plus the Ukrainian duo of Kou Lei and Yaroslav Zhmudenko.
Therefore, the eighth and final qualification place belonged to Chiang Hung-Chieh.
Vital Match
Furthermore,in the group stage of proceedings he had lost to Singapore’s Ma Liangin six games; to stay alive he had to beat Marcos Freitas in the finalgroup match.
Otherwise it was goodbye and France’s Emmanuel Lebesson would have been in the semi-finals.
He won and when he met Freitas in the final he did it again.
Rallies
"Ifelt confident in the rallies", said Chiang Hung-Chieh, who time andagain, had forced Freitas back from the table into topspin defensivelobbing mode by attacking the Portuguese player’s backhand stronglyearly with his opening attack.
However, Chiang Hung-Chieh didmake some errors when attacking in the first two games, mistiming theheavy topspin from the Freitas defence. Also, the Portuguese player didexperience some good fortune with the odd un-returnable edge ball.
Resolute
Such happenings could have broken a man’s heart but not Chiang Hung-Chieh’s; he remained stout and focused.
"Itried not to think about it", said Chiang Hung-Chieh; correct but verydifficult to put into practice. "I tried my best to focus on the nextpoint", he continued. "It’s difficult playing Marcos Freitas because heputs so much topspin on the ball."
Previous Defeats
Theheavy topspin play of the man from Madeira had been the main reason forhis successes in 2008 and he held the upper hand over Chiang Hung-Chiehin previous encounters.
"I lost to Marcos at both the VolkswagenOpen Korea and the Volkswagen Open Singapore", said Chiang Hung-Chieh."So, when I beat him here in the groups, it really gave me confidence."
Titles
Inboth Korea and Singapore, Freitas had progressed to win the tournament;beat Chiang Hung-Chieh and you are the Under 21 Men’s Singles championwas surely the motto of Freitas prior to the final in Macau.
Lose to Chiang Hung-Chieh and it’s silver, that was the scenario at the Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals.
Chiang Hung-Chieh was the golden boy, the Under 21 Men’s Singles champion.
Source: www.ittf.com
