Winning Straight Game Over Belgian Representative, Gregoria Qualifies For Tokyo Olympics Round Of 16

Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Women's singles Gregoria Mariska Tunjung has qualified for the last 16 of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after defeating Belgian player Lianne Tan in the second preliminary match of Group M, Wednesday, July 28.

In the last group stage match, Gregoria won the straight game 21-11, 21-17.

Reported by Antara from the BWF page, this match was also the first meeting between Gregoria and Lianne. The two of them had never met in any tournament at all.

In terms of head to head, Gregoria is indeed more favored because he is currently ranked 20th in the world, while Lianne is at number 42.

Competing at Field 2 Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, Tokyo, Japan, Gregoria's performance was quite good in the first game. He is able to put up a difficult fight against his opponent.

Although Lianne stole the early points, it didn't last long as Gregoria beat her after a 6-6 draw.

The situation was reversed. Now it's Gregoria's turn to dominate the game. With alacrity, he continued to attack his opponent's defense and collect points to lead 21-11.

In the second game, Gregoria continued to provide resistance. This time, the 21-year-old athlete is more confident. Even though Lianne changed her playing pattern, Gregoria could read it well and she could find loopholes to collect points.

Through hard hits and unpredictable ball direction, Gregoria was able to penetrate the opponent's defense and lead up to 17-10.

Lianne tried to catch up, but Gregoria was quicker to secure the final points to close the game with a 21-17 lead in 42 minutes.

These results also perfected Gregoria's victory in the preliminary phase of Group M of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Previously, he also won over Myanmar's Thet Htar Thuzar 21-11, 21-8 on Sunday, July 25.