Paul’s taking positives from his performances
PAUL DRINKHALL hailed the English crowd’s love for an underdog as the key to his audacious comeback in the men’s singles bronze medal match, only to fall short in the final game to miss out on a medal.
Middlesbrough’s Drinkhall found himself 3-0 down and staring down the barrel of a comprehensive defeat to India’s Sathiyan Gnanasekaran only to fight back to level at 3-3 in front of a raucous home crowd on the final day of the Commonwealth Games.
However, it was not enough in the end as Gnanasekaran edged a seventh and deciding game 11-9 to take bronze.
Every Drinkhall point was rapturously cheered by those in hall three of the NEC and the 32-year-old credited their support as crucial to what would have been a truly stunning fight back.
He said: “It has been really good support all the time.
“We like an underdog don’t we in England, at 3-0 that is what I was and almost pulled it off.
“I gave everything I had to give, found something a little bit too late but even in the last set I gave myself a chance.
“When you go 3-0 down, even when you get to even terms it is still very hard to not put a foot wrong.”
It had looked to all be going wrong for Drinkhall, as his opponent raced into a 3-0 lead and then had control of the fourth game at 5-3 up before the Middlesbrough native produced a stunning run of points to win the game and take the momentum with a flick of a switch.
Drinkhall then roared through the fifth, gesturing the crowd to lift the volume, before edging a captivating sixth 12-10 to send the crowd into delirium.
While the men’s doubles gold medallist could not carry it on through to the deciding seventh, he revealed he fed off the crowd after his slow start.
“I just tried to enjoy the experience a bit more,” added Drinkhall.
“The first two, three sets I was overthinking. When I experience the crowd and the atmosphere, I could relax a little.
“I was just trying to use everything I could, change of T-shirt, everything.
“Stick within the rules but try to win the game, I need to slow it down sometimes, speed it up and get some support from the crowd and it really helped today.”
Drinkhall leaves Birmingham with two medals to add to his collection: a gold in the men’s doubles alongside Liam Pitchford alongside a bronze in the men’s team.
The six-time British champion believes he will look back on his achievements with pride, even if it takes a little time.
He said: “It is difficult right now to think too positively but I am sure at some point I will be very happy with that.
“I am very happy with how I performed throughout, I have lost the two most important matches but overall, I have performed very well.
“I will look back and take a lot of positives from the tournament.”
NATIONAL Lottery players raise more than £30million a week for good causes including vital funding into sport – from grassroots to elite. Find out how your numbers make amazing happen at: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk and get involved by using the hashtag: #TNLAthletes