Taiwanese fifth seed Lee Kuan-yi conceded his quarter-final against Russia’s Roman Safiullin after debilitating leg cramps and heat exhaustion prevented him from continuing his Taipei Summer Universiade match in the third set with the score 3-6, 6-0, 5-5 at the Taipei Tennis Center yesterday.
The match began at noon and continued for nearly two hours as the temperature reached as high as 34°C.
Lee lost the first set, but stormed back in the second, winning to love, before retiring with the decider so close.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Lee’s coach called for an injury timeout after the second set, but despite a massage, Lee’s cramps came back with a vengeance in the latter half of the third set.
The cramps were so severe that Lee could not stand.
After he left the court on a wheelchair, Lee was taken to Tri-Service General Hospital and was diagnosed with heat exhaustion — a condition the athlete said was probably due to a combination of high temperatures and a failure to sufficiently rehydrate after experiencing mild diarrhea.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Lee’s body temperature was 37.6°C, the hospital said, adding that Lee was fine after he had some rest.
At 20, Lee is the youngest athlete in the Taiwan team.
He is No. 491 on the ATP rankings.
Many spectators were in tears after it was announced that Lee had conceded the match.
“Taiwan, thank you for your hard work,” the announcer said.
Meanwhile, netizens wrote messages of encouragement, wishing Lee well and hoping he would recover quickly.
Lee showed enough determination during the match to prove that “he is a gold-medal player,” one netizen wrote.
His elder sister, Lee Ya-hsuan, had an easier time on the court, defeating Japan’s Risa Ushijima 6-2, 6-2 in the women’s singles.
The other Taiwanese in action all won as well:
In the women’s doubles, sisters Chan Yung-jan and Chan Hao-ching won their quarter-final against Irina Ramialison and Lea Tholey of France 6-3, 6-2.
In the third round of the mixed doubles, Chan Yung-jan and Hsieh Cheng-peng had a 6-2, 7-5 win over Swiss pair Enzo Sommer and Gaelle Rey.
In the men’s doubles, Hsieh and partner Peng Hsien-yin defeated Jack Findel-Hawkins and Luke Johnson 6-4, 7-6 (7/1) to advance to the semi-finals.
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