Monday, June 9, 2008
10:27 AM
Selection headache for Singapore
Sun presses claim for Olympic team place after she and Li win S'pore Open doubles

A HISTORIC win has resulted in a mighty headache for national table tennis coach Liu Guodong.
Backed by a 1,000-strong crowd at the Toa Payoh Sports Hall yesterday, Li Jiawei and Sun Beibei ensured that Singapore ended the TMS Singapore Open with at least one title.

They beat South Korea's Lee Eun Hee and Moon Hyun Jung 11-8, 12-10, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6 in the women's doubles final.

It marked the biggest win for Singapore since it started hosting the biennial International Table Tennis Federation Pro Tour event in 2004.

Previous podium finishes came only in the Under-21 category.

But the victory has given Liu a selection poser ahead of the Olympic Games in August.

With Singapore's team for Beijing yet to be confirmed, Sun has boosted her chances of making the three-player line-up.

The result, coupled with the recent poor form of Li and her other partner Wang Yuegu in doubles - which will account for one tie in the new Olympic team format - has given Sun a glimmer of hope.

Liu said: 'If Jiawei and Beibei hadn't done well in this tournament, I would have given up on the idea of having Beibei in the team.

'But, after this win, it's a different story.'

At last month's China and Japan Opens, teams were given the opportunity to adapt to the new Olympic team format - four singles and a doubles.

Li and Wang paired up on three occasions under the new format.

They lost all their ties, including an 8-11, 8-11, 11-8, 10-12 defeat by Germany's Elke Schall and Barthel, ranked 48th and 92nd in the world.

Before those tournaments, Li and Sun were doubles runners-up at the Brazil and Chile Opens.

While recent form suggests that Sun and Li are a strong partnership, the former is ranked 18th in the world in the singles, behind Li (No6), Wang (No7) and Feng Tianwei (No9).

Moreover, Sun is the only one of the four who failed to qualify for the Olympic singles draw.

Liu explained: 'In terms of doubles, Jiawei and Beibei are a better pair because they share a good chemistry.

'But Yuegu is a stronger singles player than Beibei.'

The furthest Sun progressed in singles in her last five Pro Tour events was a place in the quarter-finals of the Chile Open.

At the Singapore Open, she lost in the first round to world No67 Sandra Paovic of Croatia.

Wang already has a Pro Tour singles title to her name this year.

She won the Brazil Open in April.

Liu said: 'My preference would be for us to have an internal competition to decide who should be in our Olympic team. But the final decision does not lie with me.'

The Singapore Table Tennis Association will nominate the Olympic team. The line-up will be finalised later this month with the approval of the Singapore National Olympic Council.

The Singapore team, including Sun and Wang, will leave on Thursday for Japan.

They will undergo a two-month centralised training stint in Osaka.

(Source: The Straits Times)




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