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Qian Yang has blown her opponent away in the fifth and deciding game of the table tennis women’s singles (WS10) semi-final to qualify for the gold medal match where she will aim to defend her Tokyo title.
She will meet Polish legend Natalia Partyka in the decider on Wednesday, after she beat Shiau Wen Tian from Chinese Taipei in another five-game semi-final thriller.
Yang overcame a slow start to the first game against her powerful hitting Brazilian opponent, Bruna Alexandre.
From there the momentum of the match kept swinging and kept her Australian supporters nervously at the edge of their seats, in sharp contrast to Yang, who found ways to level the score by maintaining her cool demeanour and characteristic patience.
In the fifth game, her powerful and precise shots took control of the match and frustrated her opponent.
Yang closed out the 3-2 win in 34 minutes.
Afterwards Yang said through a translator that her greatest strength is her “strong mentality”.
Yang has already won a gold medal in Paris, teaming up with Lina Lei in the women’s doubles (WD20), and she is top of the World Table Tennis rankings in her classification.
Alexandre and Tian’s loss in the semi-final means they both finish with the bronze medal.
RESULT
Women’s Singles (WS10) SF: AUS YANG Qian def. BRA ALEXANDRE Bruna 6-11, 11-3, 9-11, 11-9, 11-3
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By: Laurie Lawira, Paralympics Australia
Published: 3 September 2024
