STTnews @ blogspot

Sunday, February 14, 2010

6:12 AM

ITTF Egypt Junior Open - Double Gold for Singapore

Li Siyun Isabelle won the Junior Girls’ Singles Title on New Year’s Eve, going one step higher one week ago. Isabelle has never lost a single set on her way to the semi finals. She defeated Poland’s Paulina Nowacka, Moldova’s Sofia Polcanova and Germany’s Anna Krieghoff to book a place in the Semi Finals before she crashed Top Seed Poland’s Magdalena Szczerkowska 4-1. Once again, Li was merciless in the finals. She beat Germany’s Winter Sabine in 5 games.

Chew Zheyu Clarence and Tay Jit Kiat bagged another Gold in addition to the Junior Girls’ Title. The partnering of Clarence and Jit Kiat was dominant in the Cadet Boys’ Doubles Event. En route to the Finals, they beat 3 pairs of paddlers from host nation Egypt. In the finals, they swept Hong Kong’s Huang Ka Tak/Huang Wah Tak 3-1.

Chew Zheyu Clarence was the lucky one on the last day of competition. Despite losing 3-1 to Daryl Hung in the Semi Finals, he managed to qualify for the finals as Daryl Hung’s paddle was found not accordance with the rules set by the ITTF. In the finals, Clarence took on Hung Wah Tak who is Daryl’s Teammate. The two boys had a great fight but it was the Hong Kong teenager that took the title. Clarence lost narrowly 3-2. It was also a great run for Clarence’s teammates. Tan Kiat Yi Kerry bagged a Bronze for the Singaporean Camp, also losing to Hung Wah Tak 3-2. Singapore also gain 4 out of the top 8 places in the quarter finals with Tay Jit Kiat and Chau Jialiang joining them.

Earlier in the Egypt Open, the team made up of Clarence and Jit Kiat won a Silver after losing to Hong Kong's Daryl Hung and Li Hon Ming in the finals. Jia Liang and Kerry settled for Bronze after losing 3-2 to the same opponents.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

12:16 AM

Striving for Excellence

Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) hosted their inaugural Awards Ceremony at Toa Payoh yesterday where players are being recognised for their hardwork and results. World No. 6 Feng Tianwei was crowned the Best Player of the Year. Other winners include Sun Bei Bei who was the recipient for the Special Award of the Year. The spot light was on Local Paddlers Png Xuejie and Li Siyun Isabelle as well. Xue Jie bagged the Most Improved Player of the Year Award while Isabelle received the Most Promising Young Player Award.

During the award ceremony, the STTA President has also announced the team targets for 2010 which consists three medals at the Asian Games in Guangzhou in November, and four golds at October's Commonwealth Games in Delhi. She also stressed that players like Pang, Isabelle and Sim Kaixin Zena would receive the support required to turn them into world-class paddlers. These players will also be given the opportunity to participate in events like the World Championships and Pro Tours.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

9:18 AM

ITTF Bahrain Junior Open - Successful Outing for YOG Players

It was success for Singapore with Tan Kiat Yi Kerry and Chau Jia Liang clinching the top prize in the Cadet Boys' Team Event, Li Siyun Isabelle securing a Silver in the Junior Girls' Singles Event and contributed 1 of the 4 Bronzes won by our paddlers. The other 2 came from Chew Zheyu Clarence and Tay Jit Kiat in the Cadet Boys' Singles Event, and the last Bronze was from Lam Tengsi and Yee Herng Hwee who are only 13 and 12 respectively.

It was a hard earned Gold for Kerry and Jia Liang. Both the Semi-Finals and Finals went the full 5 games distance. In the Finals, Chau Jialiang secured the last point defeating Iran's Matin Lotfollah Nasabi 11-9 in the deciding fifth game. The two other wins came from Kerry Tan who beat Matin Lotfollah Nasabi in the second match of the duel and won Seyed Pourya Omrani in the fourth match of the contest.

In the Junior Girls' Event, Isabelle came close to winning the title leading 3 matches to 1. However, matters went out of hand. Romania’s Camelia Postoaca recovered to take the game, 4-3. The same thing happened in the Cadet Boys' Event. In the Semi Finals, Chew Zheyu Clarence who was leading 2-1 was upset by Omrani Seyed Pourya. Tay Jit Kiat who was playing in the other Semi Finals match lost to Italy's Mutti Leonardo in straight games.

Our Cadet Girls' Team made up of Lam Tengsi and Yee Herng Hwee made it to the Semi Finals by clinching the 2nd spot in their group. However, it was simply not their luck as they lost to Sweden 3-2 eventually to settle for Bronze. The last Bronze contributed by Isabelle Li was an surprise for her. She paired with India's Bhandarkar Mallika for the first time and they reached the Semi Finals, before losing to the eventual winner.

YOG Players Clarence, Jia Liang, Jit Kiat, Kerry, Isabelle and Tengsi will be heading to Cairo next week for their last International Tournament before Chinese New Year.