Chelsea Edghill.
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Guyana off to a winning start as Edghill makes history with first Olympic win
Guyana’s first-ever game in Table Tennis at the Olympic Games resulted in a win, following a stellar performance from Table Tennis star Chelsea Edghill.
Edghill, who made it to the Tokyo Games on a ‘Wild Card’ position, made the most of the opportunity on Friday night.
The 24-year-old player came up against Yee of Fiji in the Preliminary Round of the women’s Singles’ event at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on table One. Yee, a second time Olympian, has three silver and one bronze medals at the 2019 Pacific Games, none of which fazed Edghill.
Edghill played her way to a win in the first set, of the ‘best of seven’ game, 11 points to 5. However, Yee was previously featured in the Rio, 2016 Olympic Games, spurred a bounce back win, taking the second set 11-4.
However, the Guyanese player was having none of it, as she took the third set 11-3. The fourth set, though a bit closer, went similarly for Edghill as she won 11-6.
Yee, noticing that it could all be over in the following game got up on the first point, but couldn’t hold on to the momentum she needed to trump the Guyanese. The Smalta Brand ambassador did as winners do, taking the fifth set, and the game 11-8.
With the advice of Coach Idi Lewis, Edghill’s match statistics were pristine, winning 48 points as compared to Yee’s 33. She won 25 points on serve (Yee, 17) and lost 16 (Yee, 23), her biggest lead in the game was by 8 points, while the most consecutive points she scored was 6.
Having won the preliminary encounter, Edghill now moves on to Round One of the Women’s Singles event. There, she will face off with South Korea’s Yubin Shin. Their match will get underway today from 7:15 am at the same venue. This is also Shin’s first Olympic Games, being the youngest ever South Korean Table Tennis player at the Games, at 17 years old.
Meanwhile, Boxer Keevin Allicock will also make his Olympic debut today in a featherweight bout against the Dominican Republic’s Alexy de la Cruz. Their fight will go down at the Kokugikan Arena, starting at 6:06am local time.