Tokyo: Singapore table tennis player reduced to a wheelchair just a few months ago left with tears Thursday after his surprise running at the Tokyo Olympics to meet the painful end in the semi-finals.
Yu Mengyu, 26th seed in a pandemic-pending game in the Japanese capital, was asked for prolonged treatment towards the end of 6-11, 8-11, 7-11, 6-11 defeats from Chen Meng Meng which was seeded.
Yu’s birth, which reached the Olympic quarter-finals in Rio 2016, will now have somehow try and compete with Japanese star Mima Ito for Bronze then Thursday.
The 31-year-old Yu had long experienced an injury problem, especially to his back and shoulders, and in March was described in a wheelchair for a return flight from a tournament in Doha after the problem lights up again, said Straits Times.
After Chen’s defeat, Yu said that he had a problem with his left thigh and the problem was associated with him again.
Yu, who had spoken earlier about retiring after Tokyo, said that Fisio came to “Give me medical care, see if I can survive and finish this match”.
Dissolve tears, Yu added: “Because as a professional athlete, concluding the match is very important.” For me to stand in this Olympic arena it was very difficult so I really didn’t want to easily give up on this match due to injury.
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