Peter Chua eyes a return against his Siglap opponents in the East Coast Cluster final of the Community Games table tennis tournament. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Changi Simei Community Club, Sunday, May 27, 2012 — Aaron Poon, 22, and Peter Chua, 30, teamed up for Fengshan CSC to beat Siglap CSC 3-0 in the East Coast Cluster final of the Community Games table tennis tournament.
The duo beat Ang Jing and Rafael of Siglap CSC, 11-8, 11-4, 14-12 in their first doubles game.
Fengshan beat three opponents leading up to the final and will now represent their Cluster in the Singapore National Games scheduled for September 1st to 9th.
“We play regularly at Qiao Nan Primary School every Sunday between 10am and 2pm,” said Peter Chua, who has been playing table tennis there for 15 years. “There are 30 to 40 tables with players who live mostly in Tampines and Bedok. It’s organised by the Tampines West CC.”
“I’ve been playing there for five years. Friends told me about it,” added Aaron Poon.
“I represented my primary school, Anglican High, Temasek Polytechnic, and NTU in table tennis. At Anglican High, we were national champs in 1998,” said Peter.
“I played table tennis for my primary school, Chung Cheng High (Main), and Singapore Polytechnic. At Chung Cheng, we were zonal champs for four years from 2003 to 2006. At SP, we were also IVP champs,” said Aaron.
“Playing for school, the competitiveness is there. Especially the national youth team members, you want to beat them,” recalled Aaron.
“There is a togetherness playing for school. There is pressure to perform but I enjoyed it,” said Peter, who was in the national youth team training squad and was the Under-15 and U-17 singles champion in 1997 and 1999 respectively.
“A team with different ages is a good thing as it promotes bonding,” commented Peter about the Community Games ruling that teams should have players from different age groups. “The older ones can pass on their style of play to the younger ones.”
“The younger ones are more aggressive while the older ones play smart and use tactics to get points. The older ones are more intelligent in their play,” noted Peter.
“I learn a lot from the older ones,” said Aaron. “I’m better than last time. I was more aggressive but now I’m a bit older and wiser. I learn from the older ones how to control the momentum of the whole game. Now I can take it fast or slow. Last time, they come slow, I give fast. They come fast, I also give fast.”
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