Suzhou, May 2, 2015: China’s DING Ning pulled off the most dramatic victories in table tennis history to become the women’s singles world champion.
DING collapsed on the floor when the score was 0-2 in the 7th game, and everyone feared that her title challenge was over. DING managed to get back to her feet and fight back to record a famous victory.
She eventually played a brilliantly strategized game to come back to win the decider 11-8 to reclaim her crown. DING first claimed her world championship title at the 2011 World Championships in Rotterdam.
The 24 year old who managed to make her comeback from 0-1 down to lead 3-1 against her compatriot LIU Shiwen, injured her ankle at the beginning of the 7th game. After taking her medical timeout, she decided to continue with the match even though she could barely walk.
The severity of the injury was shown, as DING was rushed to hospital in an ambulance. The latest reports show that there is no break and she is going to be ok, but she is in major doubt for tomorrow’s women’s doubles semi final.
DING is due to play in the Women’s Doubles event with grand slam winner LI Xiaoxia (CHN), expressed after victory, “I will need to have my injury examined to decide if I will be playing in the Women’s Doubles semifinals tomorrow morning.”
After the dramatic finals match, DING shared “It was like a dream to me to have won this title, it especially felt so in the last game when I sprained my ankle when I was 0-2 points down.”
“The turning point was really at the second game when I was trailing 2 points behind at 8-10, but I managed to save both game points and eventually took that game 15-13. I believe the momentum of the game changed at that point of time.” —- ITTF
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