When unseeded Zhang Xue Ling beat some of the top seeds to secure herself a place in the quarter-finals this morning, truthfully speaking, I was taken aback(but happy of course).
Never did anyone expect her to go so far. She was almost always overshadowed by Li Jia Wei and Jing Jun Hong.
So just now, I stayed glued to the TV set, to watch her play against the Noisy North Korean(NNK) who is ranked more than twenty places above her in the table-tennis world. I'd never seen Xue Ling play before but, as I watched on, I believed very strongly that she could actually beat the NNK(and turn off the switch to NNK's mouth). Even when she was 3 sets down. Even when some cynic thought that the Singaporean couldn't pull it off.
But in the end, she lost.
Maybe it wasn't a big deal to many people. But I was touched by the twenty-one year old's fighting spirit. She fought back to win 2 sets out of the total 6 with her strong mental strength and sheer perseverance, when NNK actually beat the world number three 4-0 the previous night.
It was like nothing I'd ever seen from any other Singaporean sportsman before. I'd seen how LJW gave up under pressure from her opponents and the same for JJH.
Throughout the 50 minutes, Xue Ling fought valiantly.
Those who didn't believe in her and support her, be ashamed of yourself because Xue Ling definitely deserves more than that.
