Number Two is Now Number One, Li Xiaoxia Clinches London Olympic
The medalists in the Women’s Singles event left to right: Ding Ning (silver), Li Xiaoxia (gold), Feng Tianwei (bronze) Photo by An Sung Ho
Named by her supporters as “Miss Number Two”; Li Xiaoxia became “Miss Number One” in the ExCeL Arena on Wednesday 1st August.
In the final of the Women’s Singles event at the London 2012 Olympic Games, she beat Chinese National Team colleague, Ding Ning, in five games to arrest the title.
She won 11-8, 14-12, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4.
Twice the runner up in the Women’s Singles event at the World Championships, at last 24 year old. Li Xiaoxia scaled the heights-
Also, to some extent she extracted revenge.
In 2007 she had been beaten by Guo Yue in the final of the LIEBHERR World Championships in Zagreb; just over one year ago in Rotterdam, she had suffered the same fate at the GAC GROUP 2011 World Championships.
Rotterdam Avenged The player to defeat Li Xiaoxia in Rotterdam had been Ding Ning.
Controversy Sadly the contest between the top seeds was embroiled in controversy.
Early in the duel, Ding Ning was warned by the umpire on duty for not throwing the ball in a sufficiently vertical direction; later she was faulted.
Established Lead Li Xiaoxia, safe from the backhand and with a forehand that faded wide to the left handed Ding Ning’s forehand, won the first game and established a 10-6 lead in the second.
Ding Ning recovered to level matters at 10-all with Li Xiaoxia taking a “Time Out” when leading 10-9.
Attacking strongly, Ding Ning held games points on two occasions before Li Xiaoxia succeeded.
Established Lead Ding Ning responded to win the third game and it appeared a recovery was imminent.
However, in the fourth game, Li Xiaoxia made the better start; she went ahead 6-2.
Service Faulted Facing a crisis, Ding Ning was searching for answers; she prepared to use her trademark squat service which finishes with her head at table height.
She was faulted by the umpire for not throwing the ball sufficiently high as per the regulations.
Bemused Surprised, Ding Ning queried the decision. It appeared to be in a polite manner but it delayed the continuation of the match. The umpire took exception and showed Ding Ning, a red and yellow card. It meant she had lost one point for the service and one for the perceived dissent or delay.
The effect was that Ding Ning was distraught; tears welled in her eyes. Li Xiaoxia proceeded to win the game; Michael Zwipp, the Referee was called and with the help of Xiao He, the interpreter with the Chinese team, explained the situation to Ding Ning.
Contest Over In reality, the contest was over; Ding Ning continued but mentally her mind was elsewhere.
The crowd tried to lift her but she could not focus.
Completed Task Li Xiaoxia duly completed the task in hand; the player who in her opening match against Ariel Hsing of the United States had felt the pressure and was undoubtedly nervous, had conquered her gremlins.
Breath of Fresh Air Ding Ning who is a breath of fresh air, always smiling; her outgoing personality exactly what table tennis needs, shook hands with all concerned and, to her great credit, behaved impeccably.
Leaving the arena she was distraught; on the podium she raised a smile as she held back the tears on receiving her silver medal.
Li Xiaoxia Outstanding The incidents should not distract from the performance of Li Xiaoxia; she 6-2 and by two games to one when the red and yellow cards were shown to Ding Ning.
Throughout, her behaviour was impeccable as was that of Ding Ning.
Three Gold Medals for Coach It was gold for China; Li Xiaoxia and for Li Sun it was three consecutive gold medals.
He is the personal coach of Li Xiaoxia; he was also the personal coach of Zhang Yinging who won the Women’s Singles title in Athens in 2004 and retained the title in Beijing four years later.
Intense Pain Meanwhile, for Ding Ning, the pain is intense; every day it will slightly lessen and thoughts will gradually turn to 2012.
In 2010 at the LIEBHERR World Team Championships, Ding Ning lost to Feng Tianwei in the final against Singapore; it is the reason she won the Women’s Singles title at the GAC GROUP World Championships in Rotterdam one year later.
The pain was so intense.
Gold in Rio de Janeiro Now on the first day of August, she is suffering the same heartache again but we now know the name of the gold medallist in the Women’s Singles event at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
There are four letters in each name and it possesses a certain ring; in Rio de Janeiro it will be a golden ring.
