Love and a telephone call; essential ingredients if you want to
record the biggest win of your career on the biggest stage of all.
Well
those were the constituent factors that contributed the biggest shock
to date at the H.I.S. World Championships in Yokohama.
Austria’s
20 year old Stefan Fegerl defeated Romania’s Adrian Crisan in a
gruelling seven games duel late in the morning of Thursday 30th April
2009 to cause the major upset.
The Austrian won 12-10, 8-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-13, 11-6, 11-9.
Ranking
Fegerl stands
currently at no. 249 on the ITTF Men’s World Rankings having enjoyed a
career high of no. 231 in September 2008 whilst Crisan is at no. 32,
having been as high as no.12 in February 2006.
Motivator
Love was the motivator; his girlfriend is Austrian national team colleague Li Qiangbing.
"She
won her match earlier in the morning, so I was really motivated",
explained Fegerl who was determined to maintain male pride.
Li Qingbing had beaten France’s Audrey Mattenet in her first round encounter winning 7-11, 14-12, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 11-8.
Masterstroke
If love was the motivator, the telephone call was the tactical masterstroke.
"Last
night when I knew I had to play Adrian, I telephoned Werner Schlager",
explained Fegerl. "He told me what to do when you play Adrian."
Thinker
It was undoubtedly good advice and if there is a master tactician in the modern game then it is Schlager; he is the "Thinker".
Watch
him between points, always he is deep in thought and speak to Karl
Jindrak, for over a decade his doubles partner, he will tell you that
Werner could advise what service would produce which return and in
which direction!
Thorough Preparation
"It
really helped talking to Werner", concluded Fegerl. "My preparation for
these Championships has been very good, very thorough."
The
fruits of the preparation were realised, the young man that I had first
seen play in December 2005 in Linz at the ITTF World Junior
Championships had realised his undoubted potential.
In 2005 he looked a good player; in 2009 in Yokohama he proved he was a good player, a very good player indeed.
Source: www.ittf.com
