GOLD COAST (Australia) - The Singapore men's table tennis team survived a scare on Saturday (April 7), when they edged past Canada 3-2 in the Commonwealth Games quarter-finals at the Oxenford Studios.

The Republic trailed after the first match, when Pang Xue Jie lost 2-3 (5-11, 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10) to Marko Medjugorac.

But the defending champions restored parity when Gao Ning beat Wang Zhen 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) in the second singles match.

Singapore then went 2-1 ahead after the pair of Pang and Ethan Poh beat the tandem of Antoine Bernadet and Medjugorac 3-1 (11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 11-8) in the doubles match. But Canada drew level when Wang beat 19-year-old Poh 3-0 (11-6, 11-7, 11-8).

Gao, 35, then defeated Bernadet 3-0 (11-6, 11-7, 11-4) to give Singapore the deciding point in the tie.

The Republic will face India, who beat Malaysia 3-0 in their last-eight tie on Saturday, in the semi-finals on Monday.