Oceania Olympic Qualification - Final Day

Stage 3 of the Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament in Sydney saw the last 3 spots in the mens and womens for the prestigious Olympic Games to be held in London this year. It also saw another New Zealand player eyeing up the opportunity to qualify for the games. With Justin Han stealing away the 2nd place in stage 2, it was over for Australian hopefuls David Powell and Robert Frank to qualify for the Olympic singles event. The draw held Phillip Xiao at the head of the field, Yi-Sien Lin, Matthew Ball, Richel Sen, Wang Qi and Yoshua Singh. Richel Sen was notably absent for his match this morning and as such it was Yoshua Singh who progressed to face Lin in the semifinal match.

Phillip Xiao earns the 3rd mens singles place at the London 2012 Olympics
Image by Matt Hetherington

Matthew Ball completed another victory in his first round match over Wang Qi, setting up a showdown with Phillip Xiao in the semifinal. The match against Matt Ball was over quickly also in just 4 sets and Phillip Xiao setup a final confrontation for the Olympic spot with Yi-Sien Lin who cruised to the final over Vanuatu's Yoshua Singh. Having surprised many by upsetting both Justin Han in the first stage and David Powell in the 2nd stage, Phillip was not going to be defeated at his final opportunity to qualify. He quickly took the first set 11-8 before being set back 8-11 in the 2nd set leaving it tied at 1-1. He jumped ahead after that and 1-1 quickly became 2-1 and then 3-1. After a lengthy battle in the 5th set Yi-Sien fought out a 15-13 win and drew it back to 3-2. Edgy moments for Phillip Xiao but he closed out the 6th set and the match 4-2 and made his place as the 3rd Olympic Mens Singles Qualifier.

Miao Miao gave it all to claim the 3rd spot for the London 2012 Olympic Games
Image from The Age

In the womens draw Vivian Tan wasted no time in defeating Anolyn Lulu 4-0. For Miao Miao this was her last chance to claim a spot. She faced Peri-Campbell Innes. With only 2 wins under her belt for the first 2 stages, both against bottom seed Anolyn Lulu, Miao's future in the tournament was looking shaky. The 2nd seed had not hit great form or put up much of a fight, but on the final day she made her move. She dismantled Campbell-Innes 4-1 and proceeded to the final to take on Vivian Tan, who after the first two stages was no doubt the favourite for the 3rd position. Miao found herself drawn 1-1 after the first 2 sets. She strived on, close sets were the story for the next 3. Miao claimed the 3rd 11-9, the 4th 13-11 and Tan bit back to take the 5th 11-9. Closely fought with Miao leading 3-2, she stung the final blow 11-7 and despite her previous days efforts she took the 3rd position and cemented her placing in the 2012 London Olympic Games.

A superb job was done by Michael Brown, the recently employed Oceania Development Officer, to keep followers from Oceania and around the world in the loop with game by game updates throughout the crucial matches and sometimes down to score updates. Make sure you check out the OTTF facebook page for updates next time! HERE