Reaffirming Chinese supremacy on the Asian table tennis map, Li Quan defeated her compatriot Peng Yulang 4-3 in a thrilling final to win the girls' singles gold in the 9th Asian Junior Table Tennis Champioship in Hyderabad on Sunday.
The paddlers, resorting to contrasting styles, enthralled the holiday crowd at the Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy stadium as they shared alternate games till Li followed the success in the penultimate game by taking the decider.
Li, who showed a penchant for long rallies in contrast to the aggressive game by her opponent won the tie 5-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8 to lift the title.
Peng's tactics of going for winners at the earliest payed off very well in the opening set as she took it 11-5.
But the champion kept her cool as she came to level terms on three occasions to go into the decider.
The final game was a battle of wits as Lie used all the aces up her sleeves to overcome Peng's challenge.
