Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju (林昀儒) yesterday failed in his bid to claim a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, as the 19-year-old rising star lost a nail-biting men’s singles bronze medal match 4-3 to Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov.
It was history repeating itself, after Ovtcharov once again denied Taiwan its first ever Olympic table tennis medal in men’s singles.
The teenage table tennis sensation had his chances in the best-of-seven bronze medal match, garnering four match points in a dramatic sixth game, but the Kiev-born German saved all of them and blunted another rally in the final game for a 13-11, 9-11, 6-11, 11-4, 4-11, 15-13, 11-7 triumph in 66 minutes.
Photo: AFP
Taiwan’s previous best finish in Olympic men’s singles had been nine years earlier in London, when Chuang Chih-yuan (莊智淵) lost a six-game heartbreaker in the bronze medal match to Ovtcharov, 14-12 in the final game.
Lin had a better chance to break the dry spell, but he lamented his inability to convert any of his four match points.
“I didn’t feel especially nervous, but I know I didn’t play some of those points right,” Lin said.
Photo: AFP
The “Silent Assassin,” as he is known because of his calm under pressure, struggled out of the gate in the final game, falling behind 9-3.
“By that point, the momentum had shifted to my opponent, and all I could do was try to catch up one point at a time,” he said.
He rallied for four straight points to pull within 9-7, but Ovtcharov closed out the match when Lin hit a backhand into the net.
“All I can do now is go home and figure out how to get better,” Lin said.
His coach Chiang Peng-lung (蔣澎龍) said that Lin was outstanding in his first Olympic appearance, in which the world No. 6 teenager nearly defeated world No. 1 Fan Zhendong (樊振東) of China in the semi-finals.
Chiang felt Lin did tighten up in the latter stages of yesterday’s match, because he wanted to win too much, but that would change with experience, he said.
“He has a big opportunity in the future, and will now look toward the 2024 Olympics in Paris,” Chiang said.
Ovtcharov praised Lin for pushing him to the brink. Asked about taking bronze from Taiwan for a second time in nine years, Ovtcharov said that Chuang is a good friend and Lin is a teammate of his at his European club, but in the end, the Olympics are a competition.
He had no doubt that Lin would break through.
“He will definitely win a medal one day,” the German said.
Additional reporting by AFP
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