Henzell Qualifies for Olympic Games

[Matt Hetherington]

Australian top gun and TTDaily member William Henzell was the first male to emerge from the Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament with 1st place today and a guaranteed spot at the 2012 Olympic Games providing his national Olympic Committee support him (which they will of course). It was no looking back for Henzell who only dropped a single set on his way to winning the first stage of the event against 2nd seed and teammate Justin (Jiapeng) Han.

The womens event saw Australia's Jian Fang Lay emerge successful but only on countback in a fierce showdown against NZ Veteran and 2002 Commonwealth Gold Medallist Li Chunli. Fang Lay entered the final group match with a 3-1 win/loss ratio, Chunli confident with a 4-0 ratio, but Fang Lay's eventual 4-2 win over Chunli led to a positive countback in the Australian's favour, much to the upset of many NZ fans. The long pip and reputable twiddling pengrip player from Australia who today celebrates her 39th birthday WILL be going to the London 2012 Olympic games. As for former World Cup bronze medallist Li Chunli, she will stake her chances at the 2nd stage of the event where the 2nd place qualifiers will be decided.

 

[Rainer87]

Great to hear that he did.
I was looking for his results from previous Pro Tour`s (2012) and he did`t do very well in thiese events.

Slovenia Open '12
Opponent Rating Points Result Points
TER LUUN Casper (NED) 1323 win (4:3) +3
HINSE Pierre-Luc (CAN) 1391 loss (3:4) -32

Hungarian Open '12
Opponent Rating Points Result Points
HEIMBERGER Martin (AUT) 1294 win (4:0) +2
LE BRETON Thomas (FRA) 1506 loss (2:4) -28

 

[Matt Hetherington]

No he didn't do too well but he is capable of winning at high levels, he beat Jens Lundqvist at the last Olympic Games and also pushed Mattenet to 7 at the last WTTC.

 

[TableTennisDaily]

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome! Congratulations Will!! Looking forward to watching you play at London Olympics 2012 Live!

 

[Rainer87]

He is deffinetly is capable. I have been watching his video diaries and I am chearing always for him when he plays. He has been training hard, but I feel like he hasnt been able to perform at his best (what his is capable off) so far. I hope his hard training will start paying off from this point.

 

[Matt Hetherington]

Well he only dropped a single set on his way to qualifying, so it's a sign that everything is starting to get a bit easier for him in terms of efficiency in winning points against lower players and tactics etc.

 

[WiWa]

Congrats William! You can now officially start to prepare yourself for Londen

 

[ttEDGE - William]

Thanks guys. You are right Rainer - the past few months have been a disaster for me. I've been going through some difficult stuff and it's been tough for me at times. A great relief to get through the qualifying!

 

[Matt Hetherington]

All part of being a professional right William? you did well, will be a nice opportunity for you to rest for a couple of days while the tournament continues on.

 

[sarahherlee]

congrats!!!!!!!

 

[lgreggs]

Thanks guys. You are right Rainer - the past few months have been a disaster for me. I've been going through some difficult stuff and it's been tough for me at times. A great relief to get through the qualifying!

Well done William! It will be great to see you competing with the best in the world again. Keep up the hard work

 

[Dan]

Thanks guys. You are right Rainer - the past few months have been a disaster for me. I've been going through some difficult stuff and it's been tough for me at times. A great relief to get through the qualifying!

Hey William!

Congratualtions! Amazing achievement and participating in the London 2012 Olympics is every table tennis players dream! What a great experience and time you will have.

In regards to your disaster of form... I am sure this is due to your change in training at the WSA. Sometimes hard training needs to take place before it all kicks in and comes together. I think its great you havent peaked now, as you will peak in time for London 2012! Woah cant wait!

 

[ttEDGE - William]

All part of being a professional right William? you did well, will be a nice opportunity for you to rest for a couple of days while the tournament continues on.

Sort of but not really related.

 

[azlan]

Congratulations Will It's a dream for all athletes to compete at the highest level, and it doesn't get any bigger than the Olympics. I will be rooting for you mate. Losing and winning is all a part of any game, but what really matters is what we take away from our wins and lost.

 

[Rainer87]

Thanks guys. You are right Rainer - the past few months have been a disaster for me. I've been going through some difficult stuff and it's been tough for me at times. A great relief to get through the qualifying!

I`m not professional to give advice, but it might be psychological problem.

When I was doing athletics (sprint and long jump), I was always in top 3 of my country until age of 16, after that in top 8 until age of 18. After 16 my results started to grow very slowly, but main problem was that I started doing my best results in training, not in the competition like before. In competition my technique completly collapsed most of the time (in sprint and in long jump). So it must have been some kind of psychological problem, why I couldnt do my best results anymore at the competition. What was the psychological problem I dont know, because I didnt have good enough coach who could figure it out with me.

I dont know if this is the problem you have, or you just had downcurve (I dont know right word) in your form.

Anyway one of my teammates at the moment, who hasnt done any competing in any sport before has this problem now and in competition he cant find good rhythm to play and is very passive and affraid. I noticed this and mentioned this to him (I also recorded match for him in play, so he could see it himself). He acknowledged the problem and started reading some kind of book about sport psychology and he is saying this is helping him already .

Like I mentioned this might not be your case, but I wrote down similar cases what might cause problems athletes to performe under their potential.

 

[Anders]

Good luck at the Olympics William! It's you and Jörgen Persson in the final then, right? haha

Keep it up!

 

[Matt Hetherington]

Haha I would love to see that.

 

[Mr. RicharD]

Wow Congrats William. It's an honor just to be hearing about this. I now have spoken to 3 TT Olympians and it gets better every time. It's so cool that you qualified for the third time and best of luck in London. Turns out that I most likely will not be going this year as Joola is not sponsoring this years Olympics that I know of. Otherwise I'd be cheering with you guys.

 

[Matt Hetherington]

50 year old NZ table tennis Veteran Li Chunli stormed back in stage 2 of the Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament today to claim the 2nd womens place to the London Games. The amazing form of Chunli still evident even after a decade of retirement from competitive play. Chunli narrowly missed out on qualifying first winning 4/5 matches in the first stage but losing the vital match against yesterdays qualifier Jian Fang Lay who won on a carried result from countback in the final match against Chunli.

Joining Henzell as 2nd mens qualifier is Justin Han from Australia, a top 100 under 21 mens WR player with a great explosive gamestyle. This will be his first opportunity to represent Australia in an international tournament outside the Oceania region, and it will be the prestigious Olympic Games!

 

[Matt Hetherington]

Despite having lost all but 2 matches in the first 2 stages, today was the day for Australia's Miao Miao. Former (1994) European Youth Champion and Polish National Womens Champion in her younger years, she was 2nd seed for the event but stumbled on both the first two days. The third day saw her leave everything behind and push for the Olympic Spot. She won 4-2 in the final against Vivian Tan who on the first day had beaten first qualifier Jian Fang Lay and pushed Li Chunli to 7 sets.

In the mens my good buddy Phillip Xiao qualified in the 3rd mens place, with 2 aussies already through the other 2 were not part of the stage 3 draw and it was fairly plain sailing for Philly