Wang Chen Makes Some History

Thursday, August 21, 2008

I have to be honest and say that I never thought I would have heard the words "I really need to see that table tennis match" come out of my mouth - but I'm kind of getting sucked in a little bit - and there's some history being made too:

Wang Chen of the United States defeated Kim Kyung-ah of South Korea on Thursday to become the first American in Olympic table tennis history to reach the quarterfinals.

All three Chinese players also advanced and kept alive the possibility of a medal sweep for the host team. After her 4-3 win over Kim, the world's top defensive player, Wang collapsed to her knees next to the table and cried into her towel.

"I thought it was possible to beat her as long as I was full of confidence, because she's a defensive player," Wang said about her victory. She won 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 10-12, 6-11, 11-9, 11-5.

Wang, who's ranked No. 23 in the world and runs a popular pingpong club in New York City, will face sixth-ranked Li Jia Wei of Singapore on Thursday night.
Who's a Ping Pong Playa?