National spirit the spur for Wei Lun to go beyond target

PETALING JAYA: National boccia player Chew Wei Lun wants to make it a special Merdeka Day celebration in Tokyo by doing well in the semi-finals.

Debutant Wei Lun continued his sizzling form when he reached the quarter-finals without losing a single Group B match yesterday.

The athlete from Johor completed the group fixtures when he trounced Katerina Curinova of the Czech Republic 11-0 in the mixed individual BC1 (physical impairment) category at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre.

“I’m glad that I’ve reached my target to reach the quarter-finals here in Tokyo,” said Wei Lun, who celebrated his 26th birthday on Aug 26.

“My next opponent is from China, ranked 47th in the world, but I will be ready to face him,” added Wei Lun, on taking on Zhang Qi today.

He defeated Brazilian Andreza Vitoria de Oliveira 5-2 on Saturday and on Sunday, he scored two straight wins by upstaging higher ranked opponents. The world No. 21 defeated world number two Witsanu Huadpradit of Thailand 1-0 in a tie-break after both players were level at 3-3 in regulation play before fighting back from 0-3 down to oust world No. 8 Jung Sung-joon of South Korea 9-3.