After winning his first set match, Lien Tan faced Gregoria Mariska Tongong on Wednesday, 14th in Tokyo and 22nd in the world. For the winner of the duel, the ticket for the 1/8 finals was ready.
Tan (BWF-38) got off to a good start against the Indonesian, a bit nervous at the start of the match. Our farmer took advantage of this by making a small gap, which she managed to keep 6-4.
Then Tunjung gets up, starts making fewer mistakes and takes the lead with an average of 7-0: 11-6 for the Indonesian. Tan was a bit confused and couldn’t find the right lengths in her shots, Tongong won the first set by a wide margin: 21-11.
In group 2 Tunjung was also dominant. The world number 22 betrayed next to nothing and Tan worked hard at all times. Which worked a couple of times between them – Tan won the longest rally of the match – but Tunjung couldn’t eat himself anymore and also won the set 2, 21-17.
For Lian Tan, the Olympics are ending. She also failed in the group stage in 2012 and 2016. Group winner Tongong qualified for the 1/8 finals.
After that, Lian Tan had in mind. “In the first set I gave her too many options on the pitch. It created a problem. At the end of the second set he played very well. If I had played like that from the start, we could have had a different competition, ”says Tan.
“Tungong is obviously a good player. I did my best and in the second set I gave it my all. But at the highest level it depends on the details and I gave her a lot of chances to play her game ”.
Tan’s father is Indonesian, just like his opponent today. “It’s always so special to play against Indonesians,” he smiles. “It’s different from playing against someone from another country. My father is Indonesian and I also have many members of my family there. So it’s always fun to play against someone from Indonesia ”.
As in the previous two games, Tan did not survive the group stage. “But it’s different now,” he says. “I haven’t had a chance against the seed now. This is good. I worked hard. Too bad I didn’t do it through the group, because that was actually my goal ”.
“Paris 2024? We’ll see, I don’t know yet. If I still like it and enjoy it, maybe I will continue. At the moment I am in no hurry to stop. However, I enjoy training and tournaments “.
