Upsets aplenty in singles table tennis Thursday

By Drew Todd, Team BC Mission Staff

The 2015 Canada Winter Games table tennis competition continued on Thursday afternoon as the knockout round of the singles competition got underway.  All six male and female athletes from Team BC qualified for the medal rounds giving plenty of opportunity to add to the overall medal count.

The first matchups of the day saw Ivy Liao (Vancouver) and Leanne Lee (Burnaby) face off against their respective opponents in the round of 16.  Both were thrilling five game matches with Team BC going one for two – Liao with the win, Lee with the loss.  After dropping the fourth game, Liao wasn’t nervous heading into the deciding fifth. “I was feeling pretty calm because I knew that if I let go and play my game, I should be the one on top,” said Liao. 

But that was just the start of Liao’s impressive afternoon.  Up next, Liao took on the competition’s highest ranked player from Team Ontario and pulled off a massive upset with another five game match.  Joining Liao in the quarterfinals was Natasha Carr-Harris (Vancouver) who had a bye.  Playing her opponent for the first time in her career, Carr-Harris had a tough fight on her hands and fell in four games.  However, Carr-Harris will join Liao in Saturday’s girls’ doubles final where they still have a shot at gold.

Things did not go as well for the boys. Both Mike Yue (New Westminster) and Frank Liao (Vancouver) struggled in their opening match and lost in the round of 16.  As such, they’ll play off Friday morning for ninth place and important flag points for Team BC as a whole.  In addition, the two will pair up Saturday for the gold medal match in boys’ doubles.

The lone victor for the boys was Michael Luo (Burnaby) who swept his first match and cruised to a 3-1 upset over the second ranked competitor in the quarters.  There was high drama as Luo almost gave away a 9-4 lead in the fourth, but he managed to rally and come out with the win.

See Canada Games live streaming at www.canadagamestv.ca and follow live updates on Twitter from @GoTeamBC with the hashtag #TBCTableTennis.