Youth Olympic Table Tennis: Singapore overcome Africa to book second round spot

Story by Kenneth Tan/Red Sports. Photos by Les Tan/Red Sports

Singapore Indoor Stadium, Tuesday, August 24, 2010 — Singapore’s mixed duo of Isabelle Li and Clarence Chew progressed to the second round of the Youth Olympics Games (YOG) table tennis mixed team competition after topping their first-round group.

The duo managed to beat 26th seed Africa 1 3-1 to add to their earlier victories against 22nd seed Intercontinental 2 and 13th seed Egypt.

Isabelle had it easy in the first singles game as she easily overcame Algeria’s Islem Laid 3-0 (11-3, 11-2, 11-4).

Although taking the first point, Laid somehow managed to hit the ball against her own net for four successive times to trail 1-4. After Laid pulled two points back to 4-3, Isabelle put together seven straight points to take the set.

The nerves of the Algerian girl were evident as she constantly failed to deal with Isabelle’s mix-and-match approach in the second set. After leading 5-2, Isabelle landed six straight points again to clinch the set.

In the third and final set, Isabelle continued her form with a six-point run to extend her lead from 4-2 to 10-2. Although conceding two points, she managed to win the set 11-4 after Laid’s serve was wide of the mark.

However Clarence Chew succumbed to Nigeria’s Ojo Onaolapo 1-3 (11-2, 8-11, 6-11, 6-11) after a good start.

It seemed like he had it under control when he took a 6-2 lead and clinched the set in rapid fashion with five straight points.

However things began to go downhill for the 14-year-old midway through the second set. After taking a 7-3 lead, he started to make errors to concede four straight points to Onaolapo. Although he levelled it up at 8-8, he conceded three straight points to lose the set.

He continued to find it hard to break Onaolapo’s rhythm in the third set and conceded four straight points to trail 5-10. Although taking a point back, he conceded the last point to lose the set.

In the fourth and final set, he trailed by a larger margin of five points at 4-9. It proved too high to mountain to climb as he faltered 6-11 in the end.

In the doubles, the duo managed to beat the African pair 3-0 (11-2, 11-5, 11-9) to take the game.

The excellent chemistry between Clarence and Isabelle was key to taking the first set as they raced to a 7-0 lead and easily took the set 11-2.

They continued in the same manner in the second set as they took a 8-2 lead. Although they conceded three points thereafter, they came up with three successive points of their own to win the set.

Laid and Onaolapo gave their toughest fight in the next set as they managed to take a 8-6 lead. However a timeout by Singapore coupled with Isabelle’s excellent attacking-minded smacks did the trick as they managed to level the scores at 9-9 and take the final two crucial points to take both the set and the game.

The duo reflected on reaching the second stage after the match.

“It’s definitely a good feeling,” said Clarence, “We played every match rather well but I’ve to be more confident. We’ll continue to work hard and play one match at a time.”

Meanwhile Isabelle gave a mature answer after suggestions of being tired at playing three matches in a day just after her silver medal triumph.

“I was a little tired in the morning and could not keep focus, but to think about it the opponents have to play the same amount of matches too,” she responded.

The duo also stressed the importance of the competition to them.

“It’s a platform for me to summarize the past few years of training and also to give me confidence to play in even bigger competitions,” said Clarence.

“It’s definitely important. Unlike ITTF Junior Circuits, the YOG is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The amount of stress and expectation will affect your standard of play,” echoed Isabelle.

The duo will take on 13th-seeded Europe 4 in the second round match at 11.30am tomorrow at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. A win would see them qualify for the quarter-finals and send them one step closer to their medal dreams.

For Singapore fixtures and results, go to our 2010 YOG fixtures page