Singapore's table tennis young guns achieve satisfactory finish to match previous team achievement at Asian Championships
Image via Singapore Table Tennis Association
2 October 2021, Doha, Qatar - Singapore's women paddlers followed up on their impressive showing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games with a bronze finish at the Asian Table Tennis Championships.
Held in Doha, Qatar this year, the Asian Table Tennis Championships was a much needed competitive platform for many of Singapore's budding paddlers given the lack of competition owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Singapore Table Tennis Association made the decision to field younger players all aged under 25, allowing them to gain the experience and exposure that will come to good use in years to come.
Led by world no. 61, Lin Ye, the Singapore women's team also saw the likes of Goi Rui Xuan (192nd), Wong Xin Ru (193rd), Zhang Wan Ling (412th) and the 16-year-old Zhou Jingyi.
Image via Singapore Table Tennis Association
Despite fresh faces in the line-up, the women’s team put up a commendable fight but eventually went down 3-0 against higher-ranked South Korea in the semi-finals on Thursday, 30 September, retaining their bronze medal from the last edition of the games held in 2019.
National women's coach Hao Anlin acknowledged that while the younger players showed room for improvement in their play, it was a valuable opportunity for them to learn and grow.
Meanwhile, the men’s team was led by SEA Games Men’s Singles Gold medalist, Koen Pang (160th), featuring Olympian, Clarence Chew (180th), Josh Chua (395th), Beh Kun Ting (420th) and Lucas Tan (682nd). The team achieved 6th overall, after going down 0-3 to team Iran.
The teams went on to compete in the singles, doubles and mixed doubles events.
In the women’s doubles quarter-finals represented by Lin and Wong, they managed to equalise with team Chinese Taipei in the second set bringing the game score to 1-1. However, the match came to a close with Chinese Taipei inching out with a final score of 3-1.
In the men’s doubles quarter-finals represented by Chew and Beh, the duo was up against Team India. After a nail-biting sequence of plays, team India eventually took the win with a final score of 3-0.
The tournament is set to finish on 5 October, Tuesday.