AYG News Flash: Singapore Table Tennis team match delayed as Singapore paddlers sent out of the hall

By Yvonne Yap/Red Sports. Pictures by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports.

Toa Payoh Sports Complex, Wednesday, 1 July, 2009 – The Singapore AYG Table Tennis team was supposed to kick start their campaign today in the Mixed Team Group Matches against Philippines at 10.15am.

Both boys from the team, Tay Jit Kiat and Clarence Chew, were promptly ushered out of the competition hall leading to suspicion of possible H1N1 contact.

It takes between 6 to 8 hours for a H1N1 test result to be confirmed, which would explain for the necessity for a delay if the boys were notified of the possibility of contact this morning.

Team officials, however, remained tight lipped about the situation, with a spokesperson mentioning that the referees are currently “ironing out some issues”.

At 11.20am, the Singapore team packed up and left the hall.

By noon, it was confirmed that both the hosts’ games against Philippines and Nepal scheduled for 10:15am and 12:45pm today have been postponed till further notice.

UPDATE at 2:30pm – The AYG organising committee has confirmed that the decision to postpone the matches was because Tay Jit Kiat and Clarence Chew were identified to have potentially been in contact with a confirmed H1N1 case, who is not a member of the AYG table tennis team.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has just confirmed that Jit Kiat and Clarence did not have sustained exposure to the confirmed H1N1 case during the infectious period and are therefore not deemed a close contact and will not be quarantined.

The Singapore games will resume and have been rescheduled to start at 4:45pm against Philippines and 5:45pm against Nepal.