Top seed Kevin Cordon smashes way to next round

Top seed Kevin Cordon of Guatemala leaps for a smash against South Korea’s Pyeong Gang Choi on Day 2 of the TakeCare Saipan International 2023 yesterday afternoon at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (LEIGH GASES)

Top seed Kevin Cordon of Guatemala smashed his way to the next round of the TakeCare Saipan International 2023.

Cordon took on South Korea’s Pyeong Gang Choi on Day 2 of the tourney yesterday afternoon at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

All eyes were on Court 2 as Cordon tried to redeem himself after losing in the first round of the first tournament last week. It was evident in Cordon’s demeanor that he was out for blood this time around and made light work of Choi in the first set, 21-11.

It was on to the next set but Choi bounced back and gave Cordon a run for his money. Choi caught his second wind and used his slight frame and speed to outpace Cordon—and led early, 6-2. 

Cordon couldn’t find his target and missed his mark many times as Choi pounced on Cordon’s wavering defense and racked up a huge 9-3 lead. 

Choi took away Cordon’s opportunities for his strong smashes and kills and reduced him to plays at the net—which went in favor of Choi as he silenced Cordon, 21-9.

The tie-breaker third set was a make-it-or-break-it moment for Cordon as he fought his way past the speedster that was Choi. Cordon had the advantage first and led 4-1, but Choi was confident in his placements and kills and in a blink of an eye, Choi made it a 14-12 game. 

Cordon’s points toward his run at the Olympics hung in the balance and he fought tooth and nail to pull away further in the lead, as he finally made less errors, targeted his smashes well, and caused Choi to make errors himself. Cordon breathed a little better when he halted Choi at 18-13, then 19-16, then finally, to 21-16—as Choi was overpowered by Cordon’s lightning quick kills.

NMI’s Andreau Galvez made it to Round 32 yesterday after he won in Day 1 of the men’s singles event during the TakeCare Saipan International 2023 Monday afternoon at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.(LEIGH GASES)

In an interview after the match, Cordon said he was happy that he won and is advancing to the next round after failing to do so last week. He acknowledged the speed of his opponents and said that his strategy this time was to be patient. “I like to attack most of the time…I tried to smash and smash, but these players, they’re really fast and have good defense—that’s one of the reasons it’s difficult to play against [players from these] countries. But I had to wait and when I had a chance to smash, I did and that’s why I won.”

On his win, he said “I’m trying to qualify for the Olympics so any match that I can have the chance to win, I’ll get good points for my ranking, that’s why I’m happy now… And also to beat these players, it’s good because it’s difficult to play against these countries. I’m from [Latin] America and they’re too far and because of my ranking, I don’t have the chance to play with these good players. For me, it’s good training and I can see how much I improved and how much I have to improve—so it’s good to play in these kinds of tournaments with these kinds of players.”

As of press time, the following seeded matches have concluded so far:

No. 5 seed Wu Guan Xun and Yang Chu Yun of  Chinese-Taipei beat teammates Tseng Ping-Chiang and Jiang Yi-Hua, 21-15, 21-15.

No. 1 seed in the women’s singles, Sung Shuo Yun of Chinese-Taipei, defeated Japan’s Misaki Kurashima, 21-8, 21-11.

Chinese-Taipei’s Su Li Yang, the No. 3 seed, had his work cut out for him as he defeated Joakim Oldorff in three sets, 18-21, 21-7, 21-19.

No. 6 Takuma Obayashi of Japan eliminated USA’s Garret Tan, 21-15, 21-5.

No. 3 Wen Yu Zhang of Canada was defeated by Chinese-Taipei’s Peng Yu Wei, 15-21, 13-21.

Chinese-Taipei’s duo of Chen Zhi Ray and Yang Ching Tun defeated No. 2 seed South Korea’s Young Hyuk Kim and Yu Lim Lee in three sets, 7-21, 21-18, 21-12.

South Korea’s Dong Keun Lee scraped past No. 7 Riku Hatano of Japan in three tough sets, 8-21, 21-19, 24-22.
Chinese-Taipei’s duo of Fang-Jen Lee and Lin Yen Yu defeated No. 6 Ricky Tang and Angela Yu of Australia, 12-21, 21-16, 21-17.