In typical style he fought, as he has done for over two decades
displaying an attitude than took him to the top of the ITTF Men’s World
Rankings in 1994, a position he held for some 18 months.
At the
age of 39 a return to such high echelons is now out of the question but
for Belgium’s Jean-Michel Saive, the thrill of competition, the desire
to succeed is as strong as ever.
In his opening round match in
the Men’s Singles event at the Qatar Open in Doha on Thursday 19th
February 2009; that "will to win" had to be strong; otherwise it would
have been farewell.
Vintage
He faced
Poland’s Jakub Kosowski, a young man who is making notable progress on
the ITTF Pro Tour and was more than a dangerous opponent for the
Belgian legend.
The first three games in the contest were very
much vintage "Saive"; the vintage being that he was scampering around
the back of the court, returning with topspin strokes and generally
proving very entertaining. The only problem for Saive was that once in
the long grass all the points were going the way of his adversary.
Bleak Outlook
It
looked bleak; Kosowski attacked the Saive backhand, the Belgian
retreated and the Pole, two games to one ahead, established an 8-3 lead
in the fourth game.
In Kuwait, one week earlier, Russia’s Kirill
Skachkov had halted his progress, one week later it seemed that another
young player, eager to make his mark on the ITTF Pro Tour, was about to
do the same.
Hint of Panic
Saive
reduced the arrears to 8-5, perhaps there was a hint of panic in the
Polish camp; Kosowski elected to take a "Time Out"; with the benefit of
hindsight it was just what Saive needed.
In the guise of a
Francophone highwayman he robbed Kosowski of a two games lead; he
levelled and then played in more confident mode. Rarely was he forced
back from the table; attacking quickly and with experience on his side
he took control.
He won the fifth game, established a 10-8 lead in the sixth, called "Time Out" and then brought matters to a conclusion.
New Rule
"At
3-8 and two games to one down, the match was slipping away; usually
when you are in that situation you lose", sighed Saive who has yet to
come to terms with the fact that no longer can he use speed glue when
affixing the rubber to his racket.
"For me I’ve played with glue
for 20 years; now it’s not easy to change and I’ve lost many matches
recently", explained Saive who had a poignant message for the
International Table Tennis Federation at the press conference held
immediately after the duel.
Players’ Organisation
"There
has not been enough discussion with the players about the change; in
tennis there is the ATP, we don’t really have such an organisation in
table tennis which enables us to express our views", he said in serious
mood. "It’s difficult for the player to make his voice heard; we are
told we must change, we must adapt; for me now, world ranking is not
important but it’s important to enjoy playing table tennis; at the
moment that’s not always the case."
It is difficult for
Jean-Michel Saive, his style was honed in the previous century but in
Qatar, there was a smile on his face; it was an opening round victory.
Source: www.ittf.com
