CHINA LEAGUE 2011 – Wang’s injury not “too serious”

Wang Yihan, who was seen withdrawing from her match in Shanghai Saturday, was diagnosed with an injured knee after preliminary observations. She returned to Beijing at mid-noon on Sunday under the company of her mother and the Shanghai team doctor.

By Ee Lyn Ooi, Badzine correspondent.

Wang took the fourth baton of the Shanghai-Hunan match to play against 2009 Asian Junior Champion Chen Xiaojia on Saturday evening. She was leading 9-6 in the rubber game when the crowd saw her fall to the ground after retrieving a net shot. At her signal, the tournament doctor, match supervisor and her head coach hurried onto the court and the umpire ended the match in Chen Xiaojia’s favour. Wang was sent out on a stretcher with an icepack on her knee.

According to Shanghai Zwick club’s head coach Jin Chen, Wang felt that it was quite a serious injury so she decided to pull out.  “She heard a crack in her knee and felt that the injury was quite serious, possibly being a sprain in the ligament,” Jin said to China’s news portal Sports.cn.

The sight of Wang Yihan injuring her knee after saving a net shot reminded many of the game where Wang Lin tore her ligament during the China Masters last year. Fortunately, there was no serious injury seen on her X-ray report. “There shouldn’t be a big problem as seen from the X-ray report. There were no bone fractures and ligament injuries,” explained head coach Jin Chen.

Shanghai had suffered 20 consecutive losses in the previous league, and the match yesterday was their hope to earn a victory on home court. Seeing they would have won if it wasn’t for Wang Yihan’s withdrawal, Jin Chen said, “It was clear that the decision to stop the game was a very deciding factor. Despite having lost the entire match by the decision made, it was more important to do what’s best for the player in such situation. We had to pull out.”

In fact, continuing the game with such an injury was what caused Wang Lin’s ligament to tear in the China Master’s last year.

Wang Yihan had returned to Beijing in the first-class seats which the club got her, along with her mother and the team doctor this Sunday. She will undergo an NMR spectroscopy in Beijing to get a definite result of her injury.