Drinkhall excels to see off Yang for first time

Paul Drinkhall pulled off one of the finest wins of his career to move into the third round of the men’s singles at the London 2012 Olympics.

The British No 1 from Middlesbrough, who lives in Rotherham and trains in Sheffield, was the underdog heading into yesterday’s encounter against Singapore’s Zi Yang, who sits 53 places ahead of him in the ITTF world rankings.

But, despite having never previously defeated Yang, the 22-year-old – who eased to victory against Kuwait’s Ibrahem Al-Hasan on Saturday – beat the Commonwealth champion for the loss of just one set.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He sealed an astonishing 4-1 (11-7 11-7 11-8 4-11 11-9) triumph to set up a clash with Germany’s world No 12 Dimitrij Ovtcharov back at the ExCel Arena today.

The success is a major shot in the arm for British table tennis, especially after Drinkhall’s girlfriend Joanna Parker was beaten in her second-round match yesterday morning by Kristin Silbereisen.

Roared on by a sizable home crowd, with a healthy number of his friends and family among them, Drinkhall roared into a three-set lead before Yang threatened a comeback in a one-sided fourth.

“I knew I could unsettle him if I won the first set, and I did that and I then felt on top for the rest of the match,” said Drinkhall, who has two Commonwealth Games medals to his name from Delhi 2010.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“He did come back at me and won the fourth set, but right now I’m in better shape than I’ve ever been in.

“And I feel that although Ovtcharov is much higher-ranked than I am I hope I can give a very good account of myself (today).”

Earlier, Drinkhall’s 25-year-old girlfriend Parker, from Rotherham, could not produce similar magic against Silbereisen and went down 1-4. Parker accepted she had lost to the better player. “She is an attacker and I’m more of a defensive player and she took advantage of that,” said Parker.

“She is a better player than me right now but I’ve learned so much and intend to take that into the team event.”