Finding His Way to the Top and Securing Gold
(By Johnathan Humbles / Bowmar Sports)
Canadian Nationals – Boys 15 Event Finals
Quickly down two sets to nil, Edward Ly of Quebec found a way — a way to gold. In the championship match of the Boys Singles 15, facing a tough adversary in Edison Huang of British Columbia, Ly dropped the first two sets -5, -7. But in game three, he came storming out of the gate and took a commanding 8-3 lead.
Four quick points and in the blink of an eye the 8-3 lead vanished leaving the score at 8-7. Coach Maxime Surprenant had seen enough, calling a time-out for Ly. Coming out of this time-out, Ly was energized and ready. Only dropping one more point, Ly scored his first victory of the match by winning the third game with a score of 11-8.
After this first victory, Ly was on cruise control, driving to victory in two fairly easy sets. With the games scored 2-2, and with Ly up 4-2 in the fifth game, Huang’s coach, Austin Meng (Gu Meng), called a time-out for his player. Walking disheartened to his corner, Huang listened as Meng offered words of advice. The adjustments worked, as Huang secured two straight points (causing Ly to hit one shot long, and then drop a net ball) to even the score at 4 all.
The Huang advantages was short-lived, however, as Ly answered by winning two of the next three points to gain a 6-5 advantage, and then four in a row to go up 10-5 in the decisive game five. The final score was 11-6 giving Ly the match by a score of 3 games to 2. After the match both players let their emotions go. Ly was so excited he jumped on top of the table and yelled for joy at the top of his lungs.
Leading up to his grueling match with Huang, Ly had a pretty easy path. He had won all his other matches in straight sets. The closest two set were 11-8 up to that point.
