{"id":393860,"date":"2023-06-15T06:04:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-14T20:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=393860"},"modified":"2023-06-15T06:04:01","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T20:04:01","slug":"top-seed-kevin-cordon-smashes-way-to-next-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/top-seed-kevin-cordon-smashes-way-to-next-round\/","title":{"rendered":"Top seed Kevin Cordon smashes way to next round"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>
Top seed Kevin Cordon of Guatemala leaps for a smash against South Korea\u2019s Pyeong Gang Choi on Day 2 of the TakeCare Saipan International 2023 yesterday afternoon at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (LEIGH GASES)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Top seed Kevin Cordon of Guatemala smashed his way to the next round of the TakeCare Saipan International 2023.<\/p>\n

Cordon took on South Korea\u2019s Pyeong Gang Choi on Day 2 of the tourney yesterday afternoon at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.<\/p>\n

All eyes were on Court 2 as Cordon tried to redeem himself after losing in the first round of the first tournament last week. It was evident in Cordon\u2019s demeanor that he was out for blood this time around and made light work of Choi in the first set, 21-11.<\/p>\n

It was on to the next set but Choi bounced back and gave Cordon a run for his money. Choi caught his second wind and used his slight frame and speed to outpace Cordon\u2014and led early, 6-2.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cordon couldn\u2019t find his target and missed his mark many times as Choi pounced on Cordon\u2019s wavering defense and racked up a huge 9-3 lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Choi took away Cordon\u2019s opportunities for his strong smashes and kills and reduced him to plays at the net\u2014which went in favor of Choi as he silenced Cordon, 21-9.<\/p>\n

The tie-breaker third set was a make-it-or-break-it moment for Cordon as he fought his way past the speedster that was Choi. Cordon had the advantage first and led 4-1, but Choi was confident in his placements and kills and in a blink of an eye, Choi made it a 14-12 game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cordon\u2019s points toward his run at the Olympics hung in the balance and he fought tooth and nail to pull away further in the lead, as he finally made less errors, targeted his smashes well, and caused Choi to make errors himself. Cordon breathed a little better when he halted Choi at 18-13, then 19-16, then finally, to 21-16\u2014as Choi was overpowered by Cordon\u2019s lightning quick kills.
\n

<\/a>
NMI\u2019s Andreau Galvez made it to Round 32 yesterday after he won in Day 1 of the men\u2019s singles event during the TakeCare Saipan International 2023 Monday afternoon at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.(LEIGH GASES)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

In an interview after the match, Cordon said he was happy that he won and is advancing to the next round after failing to do so last week. He acknowledged the speed of his opponents and said that his strategy this time was to be patient. \u201cI like to attack most of the time\u2026I tried to smash and smash, but these players, they\u2019re really fast and have good defense\u2014that\u2019s one of the reasons it\u2019s difficult to play against [players from these] countries. But I had to wait and when I had a chance to smash, I did and that\u2019s why I won.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his win, he said \u201cI\u2019m trying to qualify for the Olympics so any match that I can have the chance to win, I\u2019ll get good points for my ranking, that\u2019s why I\u2019m happy now\u2026 And also to beat these players, it\u2019s good because it\u2019s difficult to play against these countries. I\u2019m from [Latin] America and they\u2019re too far and because of my ranking, I don\u2019t have the chance to play with these good players. For me, it\u2019s good training and I can see how much I improved and how much I have to improve\u2014so it\u2019s good to play in these kinds of tournaments with these kinds of players.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of press time, the following seeded matches have concluded so far:<\/p>\n

No. 5 seed Wu Guan Xun and Yang Chu Yun of\u00a0 Chinese-Taipei beat teammates Tseng Ping-Chiang and Jiang Yi-Hua, 21-15, 21-15.<\/p>\n

No. 1 seed in the women\u2019s singles, Sung Shuo Yun of Chinese-Taipei, defeated Japan\u2019s Misaki Kurashima, 21-8, 21-11.<\/p>\n

Chinese-Taipei\u2019s Su Li Yang, the No. 3 seed, had his work cut out for him as he defeated Joakim Oldorff in three sets, 18-21, 21-7, 21-19.<\/p>\n

No. 6 Takuma Obayashi of Japan eliminated USA\u2019s Garret Tan, 21-15, 21-5.<\/p>\n

No. 3 Wen Yu Zhang of Canada was defeated by Chinese-Taipei\u2019s Peng Yu Wei, 15-21, 13-21.<\/p>\n

Chinese-Taipei\u2019s duo of Chen Zhi Ray and Yang Ching Tun defeated No. 2 seed South Korea\u2019s Young Hyuk Kim and Yu Lim Lee in three sets, 7-21, 21-18, 21-12.<\/p>\n

South Korea\u2019s Dong Keun Lee scraped past No. 7 Riku Hatano of Japan in three tough sets, 8-21, 21-19, 24-22.
\nChinese-Taipei\u2019s duo of Fang-Jen Lee and Lin Yen Yu defeated No. 6 Ricky Tang and Angela Yu of Australia, 12-21, 21-16, 21-17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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