Coach applauds Republic's gutsy women paddlers
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Two stunning wins from Zeng Jian against higher-ranked opponents were not enough for Singapore to clinch a medal at the World Team Table Tennis Championships for the first time since 2014.
The Republic took Chinese Taipei to the wire but the young team of Zeng (who is 25), Wong Xin Ru (20) and Zhou Jingyi (17) eventually fell 3-2 in Chengdu, China, on Thursday.
National women's head coach Jing Junhong said it was a pity but she was not disappointed as the team, who are competing in the tournament for the first time, have exceeded expectations by reaching the quarter-finals.
She said: "The fighting spirit that our players displayed deserves commendation. Our team's skills are not the best now but our players are young and have prospect.
"I will give them 80 marks. Everyone dared to try and challenge better opponents; that's very good."
Chinese Taipei drew first blood through their highest-ranked player, world No. 22 Chen Szu-yu, who beat the 130th-ranked Zhou 3-0 (11-9, 11-4, 11-7).
World No. 54 Zeng, Singapore's top player in the absence of the 18th-ranked Feng Tianwei, then levelled the tie with her first upset of the day, prevailing 3-1 (11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 11-8) over world No. 35 Cheng I-ching.
World No. 195 Wong nearly gave Singapore the lead when she led the 88th-ranked Li Yu-jhun by two games. But the Taiwanese displayed nerves of steel to take the next three games, eventually winning 3-2 (9-11, 9-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-2).
Zeng then returned to the table to claim another upset victory over Chen, winning 3-1 (11-4, 9-11, 15-13, 11-5) to force the decider.
It was then down to the youngest player Zhou to clinch a semi-final spot for the Republic. But the teenager was no match for two-time Olympian Cheng, who convincingly won 3-0 (11-8, 11-2, 11-3).
"Together with Xin Ru and Jingyi, from May's SEA Games to July's Commonwealth Games to now, everyone has matured and their improvement is evident," Jing said, adding that they will be setting bigger goals.
Zeng, who won all her eight matches across seven days, said she gained valuable lessons, but added that they need to improve further as "people will start to notice us" after this.
While Singapore will return from China without any medals, the team have improved on their 2018 performance. Then, the likes of Feng, Yu Mengyu and Lin Ye lost 3-2 to Ukraine in the round of 16.
They last collected a medal in 2014, when they reached the semi-finals to claim the shared bronze.
Zeng and Zhou will be next in action at the Asian Cup (November) and World Youth Championships (December) respectively.
Jing added: "We'll make individualised plans for each player to prepare well for next year. Everything starts from zero again."
WORLD TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
Day 8: Singtel TV Ch115 & StarHub Ch206, 11am, 3pm & 7.30pm