AYG Table Tennis: Singapore’s plucky paddlers bow out of singles competition

Story by Chan Hui Mui and Yvonne Yap/Red Sports. Pictures by Les Tan/Red Sports.

Toa Payoh Sports Hall, Sunday, 5 July, 2009 – Singapore’s medal hopes at the Asian Youth Games (AYG) table tennis singles competition have been completely snuffed out as all the Republic’s singles players were shown the exit.

The boys’ singles representatives of Clarence Chew and Tay Jit Kiat were first to fall by the wayside in the round of 16 in the morning before Isabelle Li was removed by DPR Korea’s Kim Song I in the quarter-finals in the afternoon.

Clarence Chew was the underdog in his round of 16 match against the top world junior, Yin Hang, from China. Though the Singaporean was not expected to pose a threat to the Chinese, he did give Yin Hang a run for his money in the first two games.

Clarence was ousted narrowly 8-11 in the first game, but the pair were level 8-8 before Yin Hang broke away to take the set. Clarence then stole the second set from the Chinese after forcing Yin Hang to commit unforced errors when they were tied 9-9 to take it 11-9.

Yin Hang, however, came back strongly in the next two games to beat Clarence 11-3 and 11-5 with skillful displays. Both players were catching each other off-guard with a series of fast smashes, but only Yin Hang was claiming points from those exchanges to nick the win.

“I tried my best and performed slightly above my usual standard. I’m contented to have taken a game off him,” reflected Clarence after his match against the top world junior.

Tay Jit Kiat then went up against Iran’s unheralded 15-year-old Alireza Molarajabi, who had confidence written all over his face, even though Jit Kiat was backed by a strong crowd of Singapore supporters.

Jit Kiat put up a good display in the first game to recover from 3-7 down, narrowing the deficit to just a point before surrendering 8-11.

Hopes were raised in the second game when Jit Kiat took the lead at 4-1, but he was quickly overwhelmed and lost the remaining two games 7-11 and 8-11.

When asked how he felt about the match, Alirez beamed, “It was good, I can do much better! But I’m satisfied with my performance.”

Singapore’s last girl standing, Isabelle Li, then braved through the round of 16 before losing in the quarter-finals in a heartbreaking fashion.

In her round of 16 game against Iran’s Rahman Mohammad Pour Soulmaz, who was cheered on by an army of supporters comprising of her team mates and officials, Isabelle breezed through the match winning in three games of 11-4.

“She played well and tried her best,” said the President of Iran Table Tennis Association, Mr Shahnazi. “Success is not important now, but what is imporatnt is that we take part in the Championships.”

Drama began to unfold in Isabelle’s quarter-final’s clash against DPR Korea’s Kim Song I, who had beaten Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Viet Linh 11-9, 11-8, 12-10 en route to the quarter-finals.

In a tough 50-minute battle that went for six long games, Isabelle exhausted her energies and ideas but was still unable to taste victory.

In the opening game, Isabelle got off to a nervous start allowing Kim a 3-0 lead. Isabelle only started responding to Kim’s attacks when she was 5-7 down and leveled up 7-7. Isabelle and Kim then exchanged the lead twice before Isabelle wrapped up the first game 11-9.

Despite having a one-game advantage, Isabelle fell into an erratic mode and committed too many mistakes to give Kim a 7-1 run in the second game. Isabelle attempted to crawl back into the game but it was not enough to stop Kim from finishing her off with a score of 11-7.

The climax of the match arrived in the third game when Isabelle had taken a convincing 10-4 lead, but Kim then miraculously scored 8 consecutive points to turn the table around to steal the game from Isabelle.

Putting behind what could have been, Isabelle squared up 2-2 through the next game without dropping the lead even as Kim tailgated her. But Isabelle maintained her cool and took the fourth game 11-8.

Isabelle, however, seemed to have lost her concentration in the fifth game as Kim polished her off 3-11 in just 3 minute 35 seconds.

Kim showed her eagerness to finish off the match as she went into the sixth game in full offensive mode, but it was Isabelle who impressed the crowd with her ability to attack and defend well under pressure to take the game 11-8 and leveled the tie up once again, 3-3.

In the decisive seventh set, Kim took an early 3-1 lead before Isabelle fought back to break even. DPR Korea’s coach then called for a timeout and Kim made good use of his coach’s advice to eventually wrap up the game 11-7, ousting Isabelle narrowly with 4 games to 3.

A visibly disappointed Isabelle held back her tears as she walked to her coach, Xu Xiang Dong, who said to her, “You have done well!”

Turning to the press, coach Xu revealed, “The killer mistake of the game was when she let her guard down in the third set. We should have won the match, but she has done well overall.”

When asked for an analysis of the match, coach Xu said, “Isabelle executed the stategies well. I am happy for her. On the other hand, Kim is good with breaking her opponents’ rhythm and momentum. She is also very quick to adapt to opponent’s playing style and strategy.”

Though the defeat would be a bitter pill for Isabelle to swallow, the 15-year-old Singapore Sports School student composed herself to comment: “I have enjoyed the game and have learnt a lot from the experience.”