Youth Olympic Table Tennis: Ruthless Isabelle Li downs Thailand’s Suthasini Sawettabut in straight sets to enter final

Story by Kenneth Tan/Red Sports. Photos by Tan Jon Han/Red Sports

Singapore Indoor Stadium, Monday, August 23, 2010 — A ruthlessly-efficient Isabelle Li put herself in contention for Singapore’s first gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games when she knocked out Thailand’s Suthasini Sawettabut in four straight sets (11-9, 11-6, 11-6, 11-9), in the women’s singles semi-finals of the table-tennis competition.

Though she conceded the opening point to her fourth-seeded opponent, Isabelle did not panic and took her time to settle into the rhythm of the game. Her constant slicing and chopping of the ball made it difficult for her Thai counterpart as the Singaporean opened up an 8-4 lead. Although she made a couple of errors to allow Suthasini to draw level at 8-8, Isabelle managed to close out the first set 11-9.

She continued her dominance in the second, and her switch to a more attacking style yielded an 8-3 lead. Although Suthasini cut the deficit to three points at 6-9, Isabelle managed to clinch the set with two straight points.

Her patient mix-and-match approach was the key to winning the crucial third set. Although she briefly fell 1-2 behind, she continued to return with defensive-minded chops, as well as sudden attacking returns which threw her opponent off. Suthasini began to fall off the pace as she conceded seven straight points to trail 2-8.

Isabelle then allowed Suthasini to make a run late in the set for the third straight time when the Thai pulled to within three points at 9-6. A timeout by the Singapore coach worked wonders as Isabelle immediately won the next two points to clinch the third set.

The fourth and final set saw Suthasini put up her stiffest resistance yet to take an early 4-2 lead, but Isabelle slowly whittled that deficit down and took the lead for the first time at 6-5.

The game was kept close at this point and the largest lead would be only two for the remainder of the match. Suthasini made Isabelle stretch for returns a couple of times but the Singaporean girl was equal to the task as she replied with several fierce forehand strikes.

She reached match point at 10-8 when Suthasini made an unforced error. Although the Thai saved one match point, Isabelle eventually prevailed 11-9 to take the set and the match.

Isabelle, turns 16 this Saturday, was a face of disbelief when interviewed after the semi-final victory.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet. I still can’t really believe I’m in the final,” she said.

When asked about her strategy for the match, she said, “I watched videos of my previous match against the Japanese girl (Ayuka Tanioka whom she lost to in the first round). I planned to be defensive at first and then gradually become more offensive.”

Isabelle will now take on China’s Gu Yu Ting, the world’s top-ranked junior, in the final at 6.30pm at the same venue.

When asked about her gold medal chances, she remained unperturbed despite being six seeds below the Chinese girl.

“The crowd is one of my biggest motivations. Since it’s on home ground, I’ll try my best to give a very good fight. Although I may not be as good as them, I’m going to play my best,” she said.