Wednesday, July 22, 2009
9:34 PM
ASIAN Junior Championships - Success for Female Counterparts
In the opening day of the Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships, our female teenagers tasted the fruit of success, but our male counterparts were no match against stronger adversary. In the Boys' Junior Team Event, our Boys are drawn into group A together with Japan, Iran, Hong Kong and Kazakhstan and Pakistan. Our Junior Girls are also drawn into Group A together with Japan, Chinese Taipei, North Korea and Sri Lanka. Our Cadet Boys' Team is in Group B. They will be playing round robin with South Korea, Chinese Taipei, India and Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, our Cadet Girls will be facing powerhouse China, South Korea, Hong Kong and Kazakhstan in Group A. In each group, only the Top 3 will advance to the Knock-Out stage.

Our Junior and Cadet Boys were unable to deliver results today. Competing with Top Seeds Japan in their first group match, they faltered 3-0. U15 World No. 3 Niwa Koki showed no mercy to Hwa Chong Institution Student Lim Jie Yan. Lim lost 11-7, 11-2, 12-10. Pang Xue Jie, the most experienced and skillful in the team was no match against Ueda Jin. Pang lost 9-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-5. The deciding 3rd match was in Darren Chong Hur Ying's hands. However, his opponent proved to be better defeating Darren 13-11, 11-3, 11-5.

The Cadet Boys were represented by Clarence Chew Zhe Yu, Tan Kiat Yi Kerry and another Youth Olympics Team Chau Jia Liang. Against the relatively weaker Sri Lanka, our paddlers lost by the faintest margin of 3-2, despite 2 points from Clarence. In the first set, Clarence start the team off with a 3-2 win. However, Kerry was unable to keep up with the momentum. He lost the next point with a margin of 3-1, allowing Sri Lanka to level the score. The pairing of Chau and Kerry was unable to secure points for the team either. They lost 3-2. In the 4th match, Clarence leveled the score at 2-all after a 3-1 win over his opponent. In the last match, Kerry was unable to finish off his opponent. He faltered 3-1. Our boys will be continuing to fight hard for a qualification place in the 2nd stage.

On the other hand, our female paddlers enjoyed much better fortunes. In the Junior Girls' Team event, our team comprising Look Pei Yee Sylvia, Kwa Hui Qi and Chng Rui Min crashed all their opponents in straight games, clinching a 3-0 victory against Sri Lanka. The Cadet Girls' Team Event is represented by Li Siyun Isabelle and Lam Teng Si, both from the Youth Olympic Team. They were in no forgiving mood either, ousting out their Sri Lanka opponents by the same margin of 3-0!

Later today, our Junior Boys and Cadet Boys will be taking on Kazakhstan and Chinese Taipei respectively. The Junior and Cadet Girls will be facing Chinese Taipei and South Korea respectively.




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