16-year-old SUN Yingsha (CHN) has defied all odds to take the Women’s Singles title from world number five CHEN Meng (CHN) at the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Lion Japan Open today, 18 June 2017 in Tokyo.
Playing in her first senior event, SUN started her giant slaying spree in Tokyo, eliminating world number four & number one seed, FENG Tianwei (SGP), two-time World Junior Champion WANG Manyu (CHN) en route to face off her teammate CHEN in the final.
Trailing 1-3 against CHEN, who was the favourite for the Gold medal, SUN made an amazing comeback to push CHEN into the seventh game, where she prevailed to take her first senior title 4-3 (9-11, 11-9, 8-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-8).
“I’m excited about winning this, especially having to come back from 1-3 down at the start. It never crossed my mind that I could win both the Singles & Doubles Gold here in Tokyo,” stated the Chinese teenager.
“I think because it’s my first senior event, I have no pressure or mental burden. I was just playing my best for each & every match.”