Glorious Runner-Up of Lee Ye-ra

Unfortunately, Lee Ye-ra (15, Jumunjin Middle School) won a runner-up.

In the finals of woman’s singles of the 46th Janghobe National Junior Tennis Tournament held in Jangchung Court Seoul on November 29, Lee Ye-ra who participated in the finals for the first time as the middle school student, was defeated by Hong Da-jeong, by the scores of 1-2(2-6, 6-4, 4-6).

Hong Da-jeong won the consecutive championship for 2 years by defeating Lee Ye-ra.

The match was delayed for 4 hours due to rain. At the game, Lee Ye-ra seemed to be completely defeated in the first set as she was slow to play in a slippery court.

However, she won the second set with her powerful backhand stroke and was well matched by the score of 4-4 in the third set.

However, She lost two games and was defeated by Hong Da-jeong. Tennis players said, “Even though she was defeated, she had the powerful back hand and gave us good impression of offensive play.”

After a match, Lee Ye-ra said, “Unfortunately, I was not able to show what I really could do. My power of concentration was down in the last moment. I want to win a championship next year”

Departed for Thailand to participate in Challenge Tournament, Hong Da-jeong said, “Lee Ye-ra played well. I had a hard-fought game by capturing the fore hand stroke of weak point of a rival.”

At that day, Hong Da-jeong and Lee Ye-ra received expenses for foreign tournament amounting to USD 20 million and USD 10 million respectively.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com