Beijing, Thursday, August 14, 2008 – The Singapore men’s table tennis team lost 1-3 to Croatia this morning at the Beijing Olympics.

First singles player Yang Zi lost 8-11, 5-11, 8-11 in 19 minutes to Tan Ruiwu of Croatia. Gao Ning of Singapore then restored parity with a 10-12, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8 victory that took 32min.

Croatia then pulled ahead for good when their pair of Andrej Gacina and Tan Ruiwu beat Cai Xiao Li and Yang Zi 10-12, 12-10, 13-11, 11-8. Xiao Li then went down in the third singles 6-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-5 to Zoran Primorac in 28min to yield victory to Croatia.

The team will play Germany tonight in their next group game and defeat will mean the end of their interest in the men’s competition.