Dream Win Over Lebrun

Kao had hoped just to take a game off world No. 5, whom he had never beaten

- Kimberly Kwek

Going into his round-of-32 clash against Felix Lebrun at the Singapore Smash on Feb 4, Chinese Taipei's Kao Cheng-jui's goal was just to win one game.

Their past three encounters had all gone the world No. 5 Lebrun's way and Kao was expecting yet another tough match against the Frenchman.

But the 24th-ranked table tennis player surprised himself at the OCBC Arena, coming from behind twice to beat Olympic double bronze medallist Lebrun 3-2 (4-11, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9) and book his spot in the next round.

The 20-year-old said: "The previous three times it was very close and I thought it was going to be difficult to beat him because he's very strong.

"My goal before today was to just win one game, but I won the match and it's a dream."

Lebrun, 18, got off to a strong start, claiming the first game in 10 minutes, but a change of tactics in the second game allowed Kao to level proceedings.

It was a close third game, but Lebrun's experience allowed him to edge out his opponent 11-9.

The fierce battle continued in the fourth game as Kao led 10-8 and Lebrun saved two game points for a deuce, but the former held on to force a decider.