Chinese Taipei’s Kao Cheng-jui knocks world No. 5 Felix Lebrun out of Singapore Smash

SINGAPORE – Going into his round-of-32 clash against Felix Lebrun at the Singapore Smash on Feb 4, Chinese Taipei’s Kao Cheng-jui’s goal was just to win one game.

Their past three encounters had all gone the world No. 5 Lebrun’s way and Kao was expecting yet another tough match against the Frenchman.

But the 24th-ranked table tennis player surprised himself at the OCBC Arena, coming from behind twice to beat Olympic double bronze medallist Lebrun 3-2 (4-11, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9) and book his spot in the next round.

The 20-year-old said: “The previous three times it was very close and I thought it was going to be difficult to beat him because he’s very strong.

“My goal before today was to just win one game, but I won the match and it’s a dream.”

Lebrun, 18, got off to a strong start, claiming the first game in 10 minutes, but a change of tactics in the second game allowed Kao to level proceedings.

It was a close third game, but Lebrun’s experience allowed him to edge out his opponent 11-9.

The fierce battle continued in the fourth game as Kao led 10-8 and Lebrun saved two game points for a deuce, but the former held on to force a decider.

While Lebrun raced to a 6-1 lead in the final game, Kao regained his composure and clawed back to 8-8, before sealing his first victory over the Frenchman in 38 minutes.

A bronze medallist at the 2024 World Team Table Tennis Championships, Kao will face South Korean world No. 13 Jang Woo-jin in the round of 16.

He said: “I never gave up and I wanted to try and give everything in this game. I’m very happy that I could come back.”

Kao’s win was not the only upset of the day, with Macau’s Zhu Yuling also beating Japan’s 12th seed Miu Hirano 3-0 (11-8, 15-13, 11-3) in the women’s round of 32.

The former Chinese world No. 1, who now plays under Macau’s flag after making a comeback from retirement, will play Japan’s Satsuki Odo next.

While the upsets delivered entertainment for the fans in the OCBC Arena, it was business as usual for the tournament’s top seeds on Feb 4. Women’s singles defending champion and world No. 2 Wang Manyu beat Chinese Taipei’s Chien Tung-chuan 3-1 (14-12, 8-11, 11-6, 11-3) in a closely-fought encounter and she will face compatriot Kuai Man in the next round.

Men’s singles defending champion Wang Chuqin also progressed to the last 16 with a 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-8) rout of Singapore’s Koen Pang. The top-ranked Chinese will play Sweden’s Anton Kallberg next.

While Pang was eliminated from the men’s singles, he will be back in action with Izaac Quek in the men’s doubles round of 16 on Feb 5, when they meet Chinese Taipei’s Kao and Lin Yun-ju.

Singapore’s world No. 7 pair, who made it to the quarter-finals in 2024, will be hoping to continue their run at the Singapore Smash and build on a year of breakthroughs.

Last November, they broke into the top 10 in the world rankings and qualified for the World Table Tennis Finals, where they beat then world No. 1 and defending champions Yuan Licen and Xiang Peng in the opening round.

The month earlier, they clinched silver at the Asian Table Tennis Championships for Singapore’s first men’s doubles medal at the continental event since 2013.

Pang, 22, said: “The confidence has been there, we know our doubles are strong as compared to our singles last year.

“We’ll bring that confidence into the match, knowing that we have the capability to win and that we can control the match if we play our cards right, so hopefully we can do that.”

Singapore’s Clarence Chew and Josh Chua are also still in the tournament, after they beat compatriots Nicholas Tan and Yang Ze Yi 3-2 (11-5, 7-11, 11-5, 6-11, 11-4) in the first round of the men’s doubles on Feb 4.

But a challenging task awaits them on Feb 5, when they play Chinese third seeds Wang and Lin Shidong.

While Chew and Chua acknowledged that it will be a tough match, they see it as a good opportunity to test themselves against the world’s top two singles players.

Chua, 23, said: “We’ll just take it one ball at a time, we don’t have to think so much about winning or losing.

“We are the underdogs, so we’ll just try to do our best in front of the home crowd and give them a good fight.”