Friday, July 10, 2009
4:42 PM
SEA Junior Table Tennis Championships - Youth Paddlers Returns with a U18 Girls' Singles Gold!
Our youth paddlers returned with one Gold from the Southeast Asia Table Tennis Championships which ended last month. Before the competition, many thought that our youth paddlers can do even better than previous years. Nevertheless, our paddlers did put in much effort and determination to win a medal in most events.

In the Boys' and Girls' Team event, our paddlers fell short to Vietnam and Thailand in the Finals to settle for Silver. Singapore trio of Chew Zhe Yu Clarence, Pang Xue Jie and Lim Jie Yan put up a good fight but lost by the smallest margin of 3-2. Taking the lead is Clarence, who took on Vietnam's Dao Duy Hoang. He lost 11-9, 11-8, 11-8. However, Pang Xue Jie went up and leveled the score with a win over To Duc Hoang by the same margin. Lim Jie Yan was unable to establish a lead, losing to Nguyen Huu Duc by another 3-0 margin. Playing the role of the hero, once again, Pang leveled the score at 2-all after an intensive match with Dao Duy Hoang. each set was won with only 2 points. The burden is now on Clarence to clinch the last point for Singapore. At 2-0 down, he fought hard to win the 3rd set before faltering 3-1.

Our Girls' Team, represented by the Gold and Silver Medalist of last year's U15 Girls' Singles Look Pei Yee and Li Siyun Isabelle, as well as Kwa Hui Qi faltered against the host nation in the finals. Sylvia got us to a rocky start by losing the first match to Sawettabut Suthasini in 4 games. The defensive style of Isabelle proved not to be the liking of her Vietnamese opponent. She beat Thongsub Laksika in straight games to level the game. Kwa Hui Qi, despite fighting till the very last, she lost 11-6, 9-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-7. Once again, Singapore fielded Isabelle, hoping that she can win another point for us. Sawettabut Suthasini proved to be the better player. She beat Isabelle in 4 games.

Our Boys' Team was unable to recover from their lost. Once again, hey failed to perform in the U18 Boys' Singles Event. They lost the Top 4 positions to Vietnam and Thailand players. On the other hand, in the Girls' U18 Singles, Singapore won both the Gold and Silver after beating Thailand and Malaysia in the Semi-Finals. In the Finals, the Raffles Girls Player Look Pei Yee defeat Kwa Hui Qi to win Gold! Pity to note that it is our Team's only Gold Medal.

In the U15 events, Youth Olypian Hopefuls, Clarence Chew and Isabelle each clinch a Bronze Medal for the Nation. Clarence also joined hands with Tan Kiat Yi Kerry to win a Silver Medal in the U15 Boys' Doubles Event. In the U15 Girls' Doubles Event, Isabelle partnered another paddler from the Youth Olympic Team to add a Bronze to Singapore's Medal Tally.

Our Boys' performed well in the U18 Doubles Event as well. Xue Jie and Jie Yan clinch another Silver Medal. However, our Girls' Doubles, the pairing of Sylvia and Hui Qi settled for Bronze. The Mixed Doubles event is only other event that our youths returned with 2 medals. Lim Jie Yan partnered Kwa Hui Qi to win Silver after losing to Vietnamese in the Final. Clarence and Sylvia settled for a Bronze.

Our players will be heading to India later in the month to compete in the 15th ASIAN Table Tennis Championships, where their opponents will be much stronger.




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