Eleven-year-old Singapore paddler Zhou Jingyi finished second in the girls' singles at the 2016 ITTF World Hopes Week & Challenge, after losing 0-3 to Elena Adriana Zaharia of Romania.

The other Singaporean, 12-year-old Daniel Ng, finished 13th in the boys' singles at the tournament, which was held from May 29 to June 4 in Doha, Qatar. A total of 32 young talents (16 boys and 16 girls) from Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America, North America, Oceania and Middle East participated .

In the group stage, Jingyi beat Ivy Wabomba from Kenya 3-0 but lost to Croat Hana Arapovic 0-3 before overcoming Australian Chermaine Quah 3-1. She beat Thai Piyapath Pilaisaengsuree 3-2 in the last eight and American Rachel Sung 3-2 in the semi-finals.

Daniel had a tougher time, falling 1-3 to both Hungarian Erik Huzsvar and Thai Sitisak Nuchchart in the group stage, while beating Umam Khawaja of Pakistan 3-1.

In the ninth to 16th place play-offs, he lost to Simon Belk of the Czech Republic 2-3, but finished 13th after beating Kenya's Will Wanja 3-0.

Jing Junhong, head coach of the STTA youth development, was head coach for the tournament. She conducted a workshop for all the coaches and together with another head coach, German Dirk Wagner, led the training for the youngsters.