Olympics: Singapore's Yu Mengyu pledges to fight on despite injury
Despite carrying a left thigh injury, Singapore paddler Yu Mengyu says she will soldier on in her bid to win an Olympic bronze medal in the play-off against Japan's world No. 2 Mima Ito on Thursday night (July 29).
Yu had required medical attention in the fourth game of her 4-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6) loss to China's world No. 1 Chen Meng in Thursday morning's semi-finals at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
Her mobility seemed affected, but she has no intention of giving up.
The 31-year-old said after the match: "No matter who I face, I will try my best to keep fighting and have no regrets.
“I couldn't really move much (during the game) but I wasn't going to give up because of my injury.
“The fact that I can compete in this arena means something. Regardless of the result, I hope I will finish the whole competition.”
On her semi-final, which Chen sealed in 42 minutes, world No. 47 Yu said: "I couldn't really move but I did not want to abandon the match. It is not easy to get here so regardless of the result, I just want to complete the match.
"It is a fact she is the better player. The quality of her shots is on a much higher level and not something I face in regular training.
"All I could do was just to hang around but there was no real way for me to get the upper hand. I have done what I can, but I just couldn't keep up. I have no regrets."
Ito had lost 4-0 (11-3, 11-9, 11-6, 11-4) to China's world No. 3 Sun Yingsha in the other semi-final, but she has already won a mixed doubles gold at Tokyo 2020, partnering Jun Mizutani to beat China's top-ranked pair of Liu Shiwen and Xu Xin 4-3 on Monday.
Ito, 20, holds a 7-1 head-to-head record over Yu in singles encounters, the most recent victory coming at the WTT Contender in March, when she won 4-1.
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