Friday, January 29, 2010
7:35 AM
ITTF Bahrain Junior Open - Largest Contingent at Manama
Singapore will be sending one of her biggest contingent to the annual Bahrain Junior Open which will be held from 1st Feb 2010 to 5th Feb 2010. The Junior Circuit has attracted more than 120 participants, and Singapore will be fielding no less than 9 paddlers in this event.

Chew Zheyu Clarence will lead the charge in the Boys' events. Other junior paddlers include YOG Team member Tay Jit Kiat and Chau Jia Liang as well as those that have achieved good results in the recent 14th Char Yong National Youth Competition - Ang Jun Alcalvie and Lim Zheng Jie Edric.

Li Siyun Isabelle will head the Girls' events. Completing the Girls' Team are Lam Tengsi and Yee Herng Hwee.

As of 31st Dec 2009, Isabelle Li has already gained a place in the Youth Olympic Games which will be held in Singapore.
Monday, January 18, 2010
11:20 PM
ITTF Petrol Slovenia Open 斯洛文尼亚公开赛
Singaporean paddler Yang Zi will be the Republic's sole representative in the upcoming Petrol Slovenia Open. His opponent in the opening round will be a qualifier from the preliminary matches. Yang Zi is expected to reach the 3rd round with ease. He is likely to face Chinese Taipei's Chuang Chi-Yuan in the round of 16. The 2nd Seeds Chuang has met Yang Zi twice previously. Chuang defeated Yang right in front of our Singaporean doorstep in 2008 during the TMS Singapore Open. Within a few months, they met each other in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, where Yang Zi took revenge.

We wish Yang Zi ALL THE BEST in his quest and hope that he will bring us more glory!

乒乓好手杨子将是本次2010年斯洛文尼亚公开赛的唯一新加坡代表。左手横拍，快攻打法的杨子将只参加男单比赛。杨子首轮将遇到来自外围赛的选手，过关斩将应该没什么困难。最大的考验应该是在第三轮。杨子很有可能与二号种子，来自中华台北的庄智渊正面交锋。他们两曾经在2008年交手过。庄智渊在2008年的新加坡公开赛上就以－3险胜杨子。不过在几个月后的北京奥运会上，杨子以4－3报了一剑之酬。

杨子的状态自东运会就明显有了回升。我们在此祝愿他能再创佳绩。加油！
Saturday, January 9, 2010
7:59 PM
ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals - One Step Higher for Yu Meng Yu
20 year old Yu Meng Yu won the Under 21 Women’s Singles title at the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals in Macau today morning and in so doing went one step higher than in December 2008 when in the same event she had suffered in the gold medal contest at the hands of Japan’s Yuka Ishigaki.

The attacking style of Romania’s Daniela Dodean was much more to her liking than the stalwart backspin play of the Japanese star. Yu Meng Yu, who had beaten Dodean in the group stage in five games, was even more impressive in the final. She won in four straight games succeeding 11-9, 11-8, 11-5, 11-4. Singapore is likely to dominate this event again next year as Yu Meng Yu can still play in the U21 event next year. Yang Zi, Sun Bei Bei and Feng Tianwei were previous winners of the U21 events.

However, Gao Ning/Yang Zi had to settle for Silver after losing to Germany's Boll Timo/Christian Süss. Gao and Yang were completely overpowered by the Germans in the 1st set. In the 2nd set, Gao and Yang established an 8-4 lead, but were overthrown by the German duo, losing 11-9. Boll Timo/Christian Süss continued their brave run winning the 3rd set, 11-6. Gao Ning/Yang Zi gave their best in the 5th set, winning the 5th set 5-11. The Germans played error free after Gao Ning/Yang Zi levelled the score at 5 all. They won 11-5.

In the women's singles, Yu Meng Yu was the victim in the quarter finals. She lost to the talented China's Ding Ning. Ding Ning was dominating from start, winning the first 3 games with the score of 11-5 each. The fourth game saw the level of play rise with fast counter topspin rallies the order of the day, the proble for Yu Meng Yu was that Ding Ning was the superior player in the rallies, consistently changing direction with her fast forehanbd attacks to maintain her domination. Yu Meng Yu gave her best, in her efforts to be positive, Ding Ning did make errors but not enough; the game went the way as three before and the Chinese teenager duly booked a semi-final place.

Feng Tianwei will take on South Korea's Park Mi Young later.
Friday, January 8, 2010
7:57 PM
ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals - Gao Ning, Yang Zi & Yu Mengyu on Their Way to Gold.
Singapore's Gao Ning/Yang Zi defeated 2nd Seeds Germany's Baum Patrick/Hislscher Lars to reach the finals of the Men's Doubles event. Earlier in the day, Yu Meng Yu secured another place in the final of the U21 Girls' Singles Event, ensuring that Singapore will not return empty handed.

2nd Seeds Yu Meng Yu accounted for Korea’s Park Young Sook to conclude her group stage unbeaten. In the Semi Finals, Yu had to take on Korea's Yang Ha Eun. After Yang established a two games to nil lead against Yu Meng Yu, Yu fought back and won four games in a row to secure her place in the finals. She will take on Romania's Dodean Daniela in the finals tomorrow. Yu Mengyu was the 1st runner up last year.

Meanwhile, Gao Ning/Yang Zi is working very hard in defending their Men's Doubles title. They recorded a five games win over the German partnership of Patrick Baum and Lars Hielscher in the Semi Finals, demonstrating clearly that they are determined to retain the title won in December 2008 in the same venue. Earlier on, they recorded a five games win over Austria’s Mathias Habesohn/Christoph Simoner to justify their third seeded position. They will take on Germany's Timo Boll/Christian Süss in the finals tomorrow.

Pn the other hand, Sun Beibei/Yu Mengyu settled for Bronze after losing to Hong Kong's Tie Yana/Jiang Huajun in the Semi Finals. They lost in 6 games, 4-11, 11-4, 12-14, 11-8, 11-6, 12-10. In their opening round, Sun and Yu caused an upset against South Korea's Kim Kyung Ah/Park Mi Young in 5 games.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
10:26 PM
ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals - Gao Ning/Yang Zi Aims to Defend Title
The partnering of Gao Ning/Yang Zi has a great chance of retaining their Men’s Doubles Title since none of the Chinese pairs have met the qualification criteria. Their main opponents are likely to be second seeds Baum Patrick / Hislscher Lars in the Semi Finals and Boll Timo/Suss Christian in the Finals. Both pairs came from Germany.

In contrast, our women paddlers will be facing strong resistance on their way to the finals. In the 1st round of the Women’s Singles Event, Sun Bei Bei will face the recently crowned the winner of the Tournament of Champion Competition as well as defending champion , China’s Guo Yan. Meanwhile Yu Meng Yu will have to take on Hong Kong’s Jiang Huajun. Feng Tianwei is bounded to meet Belarus defender Pavlovich Victoria. The latter have defeated her in the recent Tournament of Champions. If Feng manages to advance, she will then take on South Korea’s Park Mi Young. Feng has also lost to Park in the recent Polish Open.

Our Women Doubles , Sun Bei Bei and Yu Mengyu were not spared as well. They will take on South Koreans Kim Kyung Ah/Park Mi Young in the opening round. Their greatest opponent is likely to be China's Ding Ning/Liu Shiwen in the finals.

The U21 events will commence tomorrow. Singapore will be represented by Yu Mengyu and Ma Liang. She is drawn into group 2 alongside Romania's Dodean Daniela, Croatia’s Mirela Durak and Park Young Sook, also from Korea. Ma Liang is drawn into the 2nd group as well. He confronts Germany's Steffen Mengel and the Korean duo of Jeong Sang Eun anf Jung Young Sik.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
9:25 AM
The Straits Times Athlete of the Year - Nominees
The annual Straits Times Athlete of the Year is back. This year's contenders are diverse - two males and three females from five different disciplines. There is a 15-year-old sailor and a greying 39-year-old footballer. There is a world-class table tennis star, a swimmer whose medals would fill a cupboard and an upcoming shooter who wears a shy grin but carries a rifle.

Below is a short introduction of the nominees:
Darren Choy (Sailing), 15
Darren spent the year knocking the wind out of sailors everywhere. At the inaugural Asian Youth Games in July, the teenager won nine of 11 races to win a near-perfect gold. Months later, he grabbed the Byte CII World Championship. Not bad for a kid who first got into a boat six years ago.

Aleksandar Duric (Football), 39
Duric should be lolling on a beach, sipping a Martini and enjoying his retirement, but the footballer probably thinks ageing is something that happens only to other people. The hitman continued to terrorise S-League defences, managed his body brilliantly, and emerged as the top scorer with Singapore Armed Forces FC for the third year running.

Feng Tianwei (Table Tennis), 23
All teams need leaders and Feng stood up and stepped forward. With Li Jiawei absent, Singapore needed Feng at her best and she was. She led the team to silvers at the World Team Cup and Asian Table Tennis Championships, she led them to gold at the SEA Games. She also led herself up the rankings, propelling herself to a career-high world No. 5 in November.

Quah Tingwen (Swimming), 17
It was supposed to be a year of textbooks not record books, but Ting Wen showed she could do both. Busy studying for her O levels, the elegant swimmer still found time to star at both the Asian Youth Games (four golds and the title of Most Valuable Female Player) and SEA Games (five golds, two silvers and a bronze and the title of Best Female Athlete). Did we mention the 14 national records?

Jasmine Ser (Shooting), 19
In the highly competitive and stressful world of 10m air rifle, Jasmine became the first Singaporean to reach a World Cup final in Changwon, South Korea. She did it again, in Beijing. Then, in a show of versatility, she won gold in her new event, the 50m three-rifle position, in the SEA Games. In a shoot-off no less.




please contact us at sttnews@live.com.sg for any suggestions or enquires