Story by Rebecca Yip/Red Sports. Photos by Soh Jun Wei/Red Sports
Li Hu (SIN) plays a forehand drive during the men’s table tennis team finals. (Photo 1 © Soh Jun Wei/Red Sports)
Singapore Indoor Stadium, Monday, June 8, 2015 — Singapore beat Vietnam 3–1 to win the men’s team gold at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games table tennis tournament. The win followed the women team’s victory over Thailand earlier in the night.
Unlike the closely fought women’s match, the Singapore men were too strong for their Vietnamese counterparts.
The night got off to a rocky start for Singapore, when Li Hu failed to beat Vietnam’s Tran Tuan Quynh and went down 1-3. After winning the third set from Tran, Li looked set to claim the fourth set when he was leading 8–3, but threw away his lead to give Tran the set and the game.
Singapore’s next two paddlers, Gao Ning and Clarence Chew, defeated Nguyen Ann Tu and Dinh Quang Linh 3-0 in their respective games to push Singapore towards a win.
Amidst a still-strong Singapore crowd at 11pm, Singapore’s Gao Ning played Vietnam’s Tran Tuan Quynh in the last game of the night. Encouraged by the cheers from the Singapore supporters, Gao Ning easily saw off his opponent 3–1 to win the match to secure the team gold medal.
At the end of Singapore’s table tennis campaign, Singapore’s paddlers picked up six gold, three silver and one bronze medals for a total of 10.
Men’s Team Results
Final
Li Hu (SIN) 1 Tran Tuan Quynh (VIE) 3
(7–11, 4–11, 11–6, 10–12)
Gao Ning (SIN) 3 Nguyen Anh Tu (VIE) 0
(11–9, 11–4, 11–8)
Clarence Chew (SIN) 3 Dinh Quang Linh (VIE) 0
(11–7, 11–4, 11-7)
Gao Ning (SIN) 3 Tran Tuan Quynh (VIE) 1
(11–5, 11–6, 6–11, 11–9)
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