Feng Tianwei went down 0-3 to world number 1 Guo Yan. (Photo 1 courtesy of SSC)
Guangzhou, China, Wednesday, November 16, 2010 — Singapore went down 0-3 to a Chinese team reasserting its dominance in the Asian Games women’s table tennis gold medal match.
In May of this year, Feng Tianwei had led Singapore to victory over the Chinese in the world championship held in Moscow. The loss was a huge upset for the Chinese and this time around, Tianwei, Wang Yuegu and Li Jiawei came up against a different lineup, with Guo Yan the only survivor of the defeated team in Moscow.
In the psychologically important first tie, Wang Yuegu stretched Li Xiaoxia but eventually lost 0-3 (8-11, 13-15, 9-11).
Tianwei, ranked number 3 in the world, then lost 8-11, 6-11, 9-11 to world number 1, Guo Yan. Jiawei lost the last point when she went down 10-12, 7-11, 5-11 to Guo Yue.
In an act of gamesmanship, Chinese coach Shi Zhihao was seen glaring at the Singapore bench between points.
Singapore almost did not make it to the final. A tense quarter-final bout against Japan saw the team squeak by 3-2 winners before they saw off North Korea 3-0 in a comfortable semi-final.
“My congratulations to China for winning the gold medal. We had an excellent game of table tennis and it was a top class match. The score may have read 0-3 and 0-9 games against Singapore but I know we did very well throughout the match. The three Chinese players are world class and they were very strong,” said Zhou Shusen, the head coach of the women’s team.
Wang Yuegu lost the crucial first match to Li Xiaoxia. (Photo 2 courtesy of SSC)
Sun Beibei featured in the earlier rounds for Singapore. (Photo 3 courtesy of SSC)
Singapore head coach Zhou Shusen giving advice to Tianwei during the close quarter-final match against Japan. “The three Chinese players are world class and they were very strong,” he said after the final. (Photo 4 courtesy of SSC)
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