SHIDONG SOLID AS A ROCK

‘Little Stone’ emerges with smashing treble after overcoming Liang in men’s singles final

- : David Lee

In China, Lin Shidong is known as "Little Stone" - a nickname given by table tennis fans as his name sounds like stone in Chinese.

And on Feb 9, he was solid as a rock as he came from behind to beat teammate Liang Jingkun 4-2 (9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 11-3, 11-2) in the men's singles final at the US$1.5 million (S$2.03 million) Singapore Smash at the OCBC Arena.

Not only did he pocket the US$75,000 winner's cheque and cap a remarkable men's singles, men's doubles (with Wang Chuqin) and mixed doubles (with Kuai Man) treble, but the 19-year-old will also usurp Wang as the new men's singles world No. 1.

Unflustered, unsmiling, as if his meteoric rise was not unexpected, Lin said: "It's not easy to clinch all three titles here, but I gave it my all.

"Against Liang, it was tight and exciting at the start and a highquality match. He played very well and I did my best to keep up with the tempo. Through my variation, serves and shot placement, I managed to turn the tide.

"I wasn't thinking about the world ranking, and didn't do any calculations before the final. To me, it's just a number and I need to focus on playing my best instead of the world ranking."