SINGAPORE — It was a historic win for the Singapore table tennis team as an all local-born squad won the gold medal, seeing off the challenge from arch-rivals Malaysia 3-0 in the men’s team event at the Morodok Techo Table Tennis Hall. They last won the medal when Singapore hosted the SEA Games in 2015. The following SEA Games in 2017, Singapore won silver, and there was no team event in 2019. In the previous SEA Games held last year in Vietnam, Singapore settled for joint bronze with Vietnam.
It brought table tennis success in the past as Singapore, with a mix of China-born players and local players, won seven men’s team gold medals between 1999 and 2015. Singapore won the medals in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, and 2015.
Regarded as one of Singapore’s best paddlers of his time, naturalised player Gao Ning won three gold medals in the men’s team event. He last played in the 2017 SEA Games, and he won two gold medals (men’s singles, men’s doubles) and a silver medal in the men’s team event. During his time there were plenty of other China-born players that switched allegiance to Singapore and won medals for the country. One definitely can’t forget Feng Tianwei, Yu Meng Yu and many others. Although Gao Ning has since retired, he is currently the Singapore national men’s team coach.
At the current SEA Games, our Singapore table tennis players that brought home glory consisted of Clarence Chew, Koen Pang, Izaac Quek, Beh Kun Ting and Ethan Poh. Some of these players such as Chew and Poh were in the same team as their coach Gao Ning that won the silver medal in the men’s team event in the 2017 SEA Games.
Singapore had a perfect start to the competition in Group B against Malaysia, Philippines and Laos. Although it wasn’t all an easy match against their opponents especially the Philippines and Malaysia, the Singapore paddlers managed to win all their round robin matches with a 3-0 win.
In the semi-finals, Singapore were up against the defending champions Thailand. Chew was up first against Padasak Tanviriyavechakul. Chew lost his first game but did well to recover and went on to win the next three games (8-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-4). Pang was up next against Sarayut Tancharoen, and although it proved to be a nerve-wrecking encounter the Singapore paddler managed to seal a 3-0 win (12-10, 11-9, 11-9). Pang did not have to play his match as he was awarded a walkover win as Thailand’s Phakpoom Sanguansin had an allergy.
The gold medal match saw Singapore battling it out against Malaysia. It was not exactly an easy match as the silver medalist in the previous SEA Games went all out in pursuit of top honours too. But Chew set the tempo in the first match winning the next three games against Leong Chee Feng after dropping the first game (8-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-6). In the second match, Pang also lost his first game but took the final three games (11-4, 11-9, 11-5, 11-8).
Match three was the most exhilarating as it went into five games. Singapore’s Quek won game one 11-9 but Javen Choon came back strong in the next two games, winning 14-12, 13-11. With the guidance of his coach Gao Ning at the sideline, Quek then upped his game and went on to win the crucial next two games 11-9, 11-7 to reclaim the gold medal for Singapore.
Finals: Malaysia vs Singapore
Match 1: Leong Chee Feng vs Clarence Chew – 11-8, 4-11, 9-11, 6-11
Match 2: Wong Qi Shen vs Koen Pang Yew En – 4-11, 11-9, 5-11, 8-11
Match 3: Javen Choong vs Izaac Quek Yong – 9-11, 14-12, 13-11, 9-11, 7-11
Semi-Finals: Thailand vs Singapore
Match 1: Padasak Tanviriyavechakul vs Clarence Chew – 11-8, 4-11, 5-11, 4-11
Match 2: Sarayut Tancharoen vs Koen Pang Yew En – 10-12, 9-11, 9-11, 9,11
Match 3: phakpoom sanguansin vs Izaac Quek Yong – WO