PADDLERS Li Jiawei, Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu cast aside their disappointment of crashing out of the ERKE German Open women's singles event to win the team title in Berlin on Saturday.

The Olympic silver medallists lived up to their billing as the top seeds by defeating hosts Germany 3-1 to win the title and US$8,000 (S$12,000).

'To bounce back under great pressure and win the team title says a lot about the calibre of our players. Certainly, after the Beijing Games, opponents are gunning to beat our players. o expect them to do well all the time is just not realistic.' - JING JUNHONG, women's team adviser, on the Singapore trio of Li Jiawei, Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegunot qualifying for the singles semi-finals at the German Open

Women's team adviser Jing Junhong said she was proud of the way the team responded after losing in the singles event just hours before.

The trio - the top three seeds in the singles draw - were all stunned by lesser opponents at the US$152,000 International Table Tennis Federation Pro Tour event.

Jing said: 'There was definitely more pressure on them to win the team event after what happened in the singles.

'But they found a way past the Germans, which wasn't easy because the hosts had the crowd behind them, and were riding high after upsetting Japan in the semi-finals.'

Germany got off to a dream start after Wu Jiaduo upset world No. 6 Li 11-9, 3-11, 4-11, 11-2, 11-8.

Wu had proved to be a handful for Singapore all day. It was the world No. 33 who had dumped Feng out of the women's singles quarter-finals earlier in the day.

But Feng was determined not to fall victim to yet another German, and quickly levelled the tie with a 4-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-2 win over Zhenqi Barthel.

Li and world No. 8 Wang then teamed up to put Singapore ahead with a 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7 victory over Barthel and Kristin Silbereisen in the doubles.

Feng wrapped up proceedings when she defeated Silbereisen 12-10, 5-11, 12-10, 11-7 - a win that ensured the world No. 7 stayed unbeaten in the team event.

Despite not having a representative in the women's singles semi-finals, Jing was pleased with the paddlers' overall performance.

She said: 'We have not failed at this outing. The emphasis is always the team event, and we delivered.

'To bounce back under great pressure and win the team title says a lot about the calibre of our players.'

The former national player added that it was normal for the trio to be in a transitional phase now, after peaking during the August Olympics.

'Certainly, after the Beijing Games, opponents are gunning to beat our players,' she said. 'To expect them to do well all the time is just not realistic.'

linxinyi@sph.com.sg