| |
| >> Back to the article | |
| Dec 15, 2008 | |
|
A Doubles Double
|
|
| S'pore capture men's, women's doubles at Pro Tour Grand Finals | |
| By Lin Xinyi | |
| THE Chinese saying that good things come in pairs could not better reflect the state of affairs in the Singapore table tennis camp yesterday.
Li Jiawei and Sun Beibei, and Gao Ning and Yang Zi capped off the year by winning both the women's and men's doubles titles at the season-ending Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals in Macau. Li and Sun scorched South Koreans Kim Kyung Ah and Park Mi Young 11-5, 6-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-4, before Gao and Yang gave cause for a double celebration. The runners-up at last month's Polish Open were not to be denied a title this time, when they defeated Taiwan's Chuang Chih-yuan and Wu Chih-chi 11-2, 9-11, 15-17, 11-1, 14-12, 11-7. Both pairs went away with US$10,000 (S$15,000) for their wins. Only the season's best-performing paddlers in the singles, doubles and Under-21 events were invited to this US$315,000 (S$473,000) tournament - which offers the biggest prize money on the International Table Tennis Federation Pro Tour calendar. So it was perhaps surprising that table tennis powerhouses China were not represented in either of the doubles draws. The reason: None of their pairs had satisfied the criterion of competing in four Pro Tour events in at least two continents, as they had experimented with various permutations of doubles partnerships leading up to the Olympics. Hence, not a single pairing was eligible for this competition. But Li and Gao said that the absence of the Chinese pairs should not take the gloss off their victories. She said: 'The Chinese players are definitely our main rivals. But it was not easy for us to win this title - we had to play very well to do so.' He added: 'Those who qualified for this tournament are of a certain standard. We still had to go all out to win.' Li was exceptionally pleased with the victory, given that she was recently down with a bout of flu and did not train before the start of the tournament. This also meant that she had no chance to work with Sun since the Beijing Olympics, where Wang Yuegu was her partner in the team event. She said: 'It was a little surprising to win by 4-1. We just performed especially well today.' It proved to be third-time lucky for Li and Sun, who lost their last two encounters with the South Koreans. 'We were more patient this time and we showed chemistry again - the communication in between points was good,' said Li. Earlier in the day, Wang went down to eventual champion and world No. 5 Guo Yan 8-11, 10-12, 12-10, 8-11, 8-11 in the women's singles semi-finals. Feng Tianwei also faltered at the same stage, losing 8-11, 4-11, 6-11, 12-10, 9-11 to world No. 3 Guo Yue. The men's singles final was also an all-China affair, which saw world No. 3 Ma Long upset world No. 1 Wang Hao in straight games 13-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-5. The losses in the women's singles to higher-ranked opponents are a small blemish on what has been a hugely successful year for the national paddlers. Even before a ball was hit on the final day of the tournament, Singapore were already assured of their best-ever overall performance at the Pro Tour Grand Finals - a tournament which is the culmination of the paddlers' efforts throughout the year. For the first time, Singapore were represented in both the men's and women's doubles finals. In the women's singles, Wang and Feng made the semi-finals, while Li and Sun were quarter-finalists. Rising talent Yu Mengyu was also the runner-up in the girls' Under-21 singles event. In Feng, Li and Wang, Singapore end the year with the world's sixth-, seventh- and eighth-ranked paddlers. Feng and Wang finished third and fourth respectively at the women's World Cup in September. But most notably, the women's team brought back the Republic's first Olympic medal in 48 years when they took silver in Beijing. While the Games will also bring back memories of the 'Gao Ning saga', where the nation's top male paddler was without a coach for his singles tie, even Gao has come to terms with what has past. He said: 'This win is a consolation. No matter what has happened in 2008, I can now close this chapter.' | |
| Copyright © 2007 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement & Condition of Access |
![]() |
|
|
|
$breakCalendarHTML
|
Best viewed at 1152x864 resolution with IE 6.0 or
FireFox 2.0 and above Copyright © 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co.
Regn No. 198402868E | Privacy Statement
| Terms & Conditions
|