HANGZHOU – It was fine margins as the Indian hoodoo continued for Singapore’s table tennis teams on Friday. They were beaten by their South Asian counterparts in the men and women’s team group-stage matches to find themselves at a disadvantage going into the knockout rounds.
After beating Nepal 3-0 in their Group F opener in the morning at the Gongshu Canal Sports Park Gymnasium, the Republic’s women were looking to avenge their 3-2 defeat at the Asian Championships earlier in September.
But the heartbreak continued with another 3-2 loss on Table 5.
In an epic battle that started at 4pm and lasted 206 minutes – they were the last women’s team match to end – world No. 70 Zeng Jian was resilient as she gave Singapore the lead with a 3-1 (7-11, 11-2, 11-7, 12-10) win over 177th-ranked Ayhika Mukherjee.
India’s world No. 36 Manika Batra then levelled the scores by beating 179th-ranked Zhou Jing Yi 3-1 (11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 11-3). World No. 132 Wong Xin Ru showed great spirit to lead 2-1 from trailing positions, but ran out of comebacks as she lost 3-2 (12-14, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7) to 88th-ranked Sreeja Akula.
Zeng would show similar resolve as she saved two match points to beat Batra 3-2 (11-3, 3-11, 12-10, 10-12, 12-10), but Mukherjee’s unique rubber was too much for Zhou as she prevailed 3-1 (11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5).
India will win the group barring a shock loss to Nepal on Saturday, when the round-of-16 draw will be made. As runners-up, Singapore will meet a group winner, making their task harder to at least match their quarter-final finish in 2018.
National women’s coach Jing Junhong said: “Of course, it is a pity not to have won, but I’m pleased, and not disappointed, because our players performed well today.
“We just lacked that bit of quality against opponents who play with anti-spin and pimpled rubbers. We tried to prepare for this with our sparring partners, but it cannot be exactly the same.
“We knew we were going to be in for a tough fight, so whoever we face next, I just want our players to give their best, be proactive and show what they are capable of.”
In the cavernous 6,000-capacity, nine-table arena, a pocket of fans chanted the name of Hong Kong’s Wong Chun-ting, while trademark shouts of “cholei” from Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto filled the air.
But there was no doubt who the main attraction was, as raucous cheers were reserved for local heroines – Sun Yingsha, Wang Yidi and Chen Meng – who made light work of Kazakhstan with a 3-0 win in Group A.
The hall came to life again as Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin appeared, only to be turned away twice from Table 1, which had to be sanitised and tidied before they were allowed in. They easily beat Saudi Arabia 3-0 to seal top spot in Group A.
Later in the day, Singapore’s men, who had beaten Tajikistan 3-0 earlier, took on the Indians. World No. 65 Izaac Quek got off to a flying start but eventually fell 3-1 (5-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-9) to 107th-ranked Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.
World No. 116 Koen Pang suffered the same fate against Harmeet Desai, recovering from 2-0 down before losing 3-2 (12-10, 11-8, 6-11, 6-11, 11-5).
World No. 180 Clarence Chew cut the deficit with a 3-1 (13-11, 11-8, 10-12, 11-5) win over the bandanna-sporting world No. 111 Sharath Achanta, before Pang lost 3-1 (11-7, 10-12, 11-9, 11-6) to Gnanasekaran for an overall 3-1 defeat.
Singapore must beat Yemen on Saturday to advance and national men’s team coach Gao Ning said: “We fared better in our variation in strategy than when we lost to India 3-0 at the Asian Championships.
“We lost out in terms of experience when we let slip big leads... After they switched up their serves and won a couple of points, we were shaken, so we can still improve in terms of game management when we are in the lead.”
