Lee Sang-soo claims top spot in World Table Tennis men's singles

Table tennis player Lee Sang-soo is considered to have a strong serve, but he could not utilize his strength when competing against Fan Zhendong. Lee Sang-soo had faced Fan 14 times, from the 2013 Tianjin East Asian Games to the 3rd International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Table Tennis (WTT) Champions Tournament in April of this year, losing all 14 matches. During a total of 52 sets against Fan Zhendong, Lee Sang-soo only managed to win four sets (7.7%).

However, everything changed in the 15th match on Thursday. Lee Sang-soo defeated Fan Zhendong (China) 3-1 in the men's singles round of 16 of the 5th WTT Champions held in Frankfurt, Germany on that day. It was Lee’s 15th victory after losing 14 matches in 10 years since his initial encounter with Fan. WTT commented that Lee Sang-soo pulled off the colossal upset that sank Fan Zhendong.

Lee Sang-soo rattled Fan Zhendong with a 'shallow serve + deep attack.' He applied a lot of spin to the serve, dropping it in front of the net, and when the ball came over, he returned it to the left and right corners of the table. Fan Zhendong had to deal with Lee Sang-soo while constantly moving back and forth, left and right, throughout the game. As a result, the receiver was repeatedly thrown off the ping pong table. Fan Zhendong admitted defeat, saying, "Lee Sang-soo displayed an excellent performance in almost all aspects today, especially in serving."

"I feel good about defeating a player I've never beaten before. It's rare to beat the world's No. 1 player, so I'm happy it was me," Lee Sang-soo said. "What makes me even happier is that I showcased everything I had practiced rather than just securing the win." Lee was surpassed by his younger teammates and couldn't participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games.


leper@donga.com