AYG Table Tennis: Singapore to face top seed China after mixed team quarter-final win over India

Story by Yvonne Yap/Red Sports. Photos by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports.

Toa Payoh Sports Hall, Friday, July 3, 2009 – Cheered on by a crowd of around 100, Isabelle Li and Clarence Chew won their respective quarter-final singles matches to beat India 2-0, and launch Singapore into the semi-finals of the Asian Youth Games table tennis mixed team competition.

Isabelle and Bhandarkar Mallika Srirang, representing Singapore and India in the girls’ singles, adopted a cautious start. There were long rallies between both players, as they exchanged returns and waited for the other to make mistakes. Sure enough, points were earned by both sides when Mallika and Isabelle each made swift shots, catching the other off-guard.

Isabelle was always on her toes throughout the match, covering her area efficiently. Mallika took a different approach, and mostly stayed close to the table, choosing to stretch her arms out to receive the shots from Isabelle.

Isabelle proved why she is world no. 8 when she wrapped the first two sets up comfortably 11-3, 11-3. However, she lost her focus in the third set and trailed all the way after securing the opening point. Mallika won the set 11-9.

Isabelle came back in the fourth game, but not without a fight from Mallika. Isabelle returned several shots towards the body of Mallika, gaining at least two points from this. But the supporters were given a scare when Mallika suddenly chalked up five straight points to make the score 8-7. From then on, Isabelle shut Mallika out and won the game 11-7.

“I was motivated when I saw them cheering,” Isabelle said, as she referred to the enormous crowd of supporters who turned up to support Team Singapore during the quarter-finals.

Clarence started his boys’ singles shakily, dropping several points to India’s Arnab Adhikari in the opening game. The determination was clear on his face as he exchanged fast rallies with Arnab. Clarence constantly altered his shot direction, and forced his opponent to stretch from one end of the table to another. Clarence won the first 2 sets 11-7, 11-4.

The third game was marred with confusion during the fifth service. Clarence had hit the ball out, but it was not certain whether the ball had touched the table before going wide. Clarence was about to be given the point as the assistant umpire indicated that the ball had indeed hit the edge of the table before going out. However, Arnab protested against the decision, along with his coach from the sidelines. The umpire then ruled that the point would be replayed.

Another commotion came up in the dying seconds of the game when Clarence was 10-9 up. Singapore’s coach, Xu Xiang Dong, tried to called for a time-out to give Clarence some advice for the crucial final point. The umpires failed to hear his request and allowed the match to go on. Clarence proceeded to lost the point, sending the game into a deuce at 10-10.

Coach Xu finally got his request then, and with that, Clarence stormed home to clinch the final 2 points, winning the game 12-10, sending Singapore into the semi-finals with China later in the day at 5pm.

“Singapore did better than us,” admitted Arnab when asked about his performance during the match.