by Simon Daish
Domination From Ho Kwan Kit
Ho Kwan Kit entered the category seeded second while Yuto Muramatsu (Japan) was the top seed, and both booked their spots in the final following 3-0 semi-final victories over Chinese Taipei’s Tsai Chun-Yu and Yang Heng-Wei.
The final itself carried huge excitement in the build up to the match; top two seeds going head-to-head with just three world ranking spaces between them, surely a close encounter was to be expected? Well the answer was no, as Ho Kwan Kit stormed to a straight games win.
Game one saw both players evenly matched until around the half way stage where Ho Kwan Kit began breaking away from his Japanese competitor, as the finalist from Hong Kong moved 1-0 in front. Then Yuto Muramatsu held two game points in the second end, but couldn’t take advantage as Ho Kwan Kit doubled his games tally.
Before long the tie was brought to a close as Ho Kwan Kit comfortably took game three to seal the trophy (11-6, 12-10, 11-4).
“The opponent was very strong and I made some changes in my service in the last phrase of the second game. After taking this set, I relaxed a lot and become more confident” – Ho Kwan Kit (Hong Kong).
Post-Match Positives
After winning the gold in Chengdu, Ho Kwan Kit touched upon his time at the 2016 Olympic Games and his ambitions moving forward, “Rio was a wonderful experience for me and helps a lot for my career.” The Hong Kong player added, “Now the new Olympic Cycle begins. I hope I can make some achievements in 2020 and even in 2024 (Olympic Games).”
Runner-up Yuto Muramatsu praised the champion for his efforts and the Japanese player also stated after the final that he feels physically undertrained due to recent travel commitments, “We have played each other twice before and I lost both. He becomes more strong now. I won Under 21 Men’s Singles and Men’s Singles at the Czech Open. Then I came back to Japan then China. So I did not get much physical training recently, which will more or less affect me.”
Latest Results
Thursday 15th September: Under 21 Women’s Singles – Main Draw
