'TIGER' TOO TOUGH ON THIS DAY.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

ATHENS, Greece - The animal screamed.

``It energized me,'' she said.

The tiger let out a howl.

``I think it made her nervous,'' she said.

Everywhere else in Galasti Olympic Hall the action had stopped. The other three matches ended in quick, dull sweeps.

But over on table two was a match to take in, to soak up, to watch the animal at work.

``Animal'' and ``Tiger'' are two nicknames placed on Tawny Banh, known for her aggressive and - in the otherwise subdued world of table tennis - animated play.

Banh was in a comparative titanic of a match. Trailing South Korea's Ji Hye Yoon, who led two games to one and was one point from taking a commanding 3-1 lead. The first to take four games advances, the loser calls it an Olympics.

Banh dug deep.

``I kept telling myself, 'I need to win. I'm still in this. I'm doing well,' '' Alhambra's Banh said.

Banh rallied to win the next three points and take an 11-10 lead. You have to win by two, so on the game went. Yoon was at game-point again with a 12-11 lead, but Banh tied it. Yoon took the lead again, but Banh fought off game-point once more.

Four times she was one point from losing and four times she rallied until finally winning 16-14.

And then seemed to go completely flat.

Yoon came back and crushed Banh in the fourth game, 11-3.

``I was so mad at myself,'' Banh said.

Now the Greeks in the crowd, who had seen their own girl wiped out on the next table faster than you can spell Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, suddenly took up the South Korean's cause.

``Kor-ree-aa'' they chanted, again and again.

Banh, whose parents are from Vietnam, was the loneliest American in Greece.

``I needed to win to stuff it in their faces,'' Banh said.

``I knew it was all politics about the U.S., but I wanted to win.''

Her coach, Doru Gheorghe, always knew she was capable of winning games like this. He just wasn't sure he could convince her.

``She gets so nervous,'' Gheorghe said. ``My pain is getting Tawny to believe she can do it. She worries all the time.''

Now down three games to two and one loss from elimination, she needed to start believing quickly. Turns out, she just needed a new approach.

Trailing 7-6 in sixth game, she called a timeout, regrouped, and went to the dippity-do move.

Instead of using her traditional serve from the corner of the table, she suddenly went into a quick squat, her nose almost going to table height at mid-table before using a downward motion on her serve.

And it worked almost every time.

``I thought that was the turning point in the match,'' she said.

She won two consecutive serves, letting out a shout each time.

Never heard a single sound from any of the other seven contestants playing, but Banh was letting it all out. She yelled on almost every point she won all day.

``I think it helps to motivate me,'' she said.

``And I sensed it made her nervous.''

If the howls emanating from across the table weren't unnerving enough for Yoon, Banh's play had to be.

Yoon is only 21 and a relative newcomer to the South Korean team; Banh is 29. But Korea is ranked second in the world and simply making its team makes you a world-class player.

But after her easy win in the fifth game and quick start in the sixth, Yoon was in for a battle.

Banh won five of the next six points to take game six and force a final seventh game.

``She started to freak out,'' Banh said.

Still, Yoon took a 6-5 lead in the final game, the chants of ``Kor-ree-aa'' growing louder, the reaction to her every winning point more pronounced.

It was a simple first-round match, but it suddenly had everyone riveted. Banh's first true Olympic moment had arrived.

And just like Gheorghe had always tried to tell her, she was ready.

Banh won the final six points of the match - the only time all day she won six consecutive points - to capture the game and match.

She jumped into the air, threw a fist, then jumped and jumped some more.

Rare emotion in the table tennis circuit.

Not that Banh had learned every lesson.

She was already worried about her next match.

``That New Zealand girl is really good,'' she said. ``She plays in a professional league in Japan with men.''

Sure, but with how many animals?