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Clarence Chew, 25, trains twice a day as he prepares to make his Olympic debut in Tokyo. He is the first Singapore-born male paddler to qualify for the singles event at the Games.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE TABLE TENNIS ASSOCIATION
In 2004, Clarence Chew received a gift from International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) honorary president and former world champion Xu Yinsheng, who was also his mother Chen Shuping's coach in the China national team in the late 1970s.
It was an autographed bat and on it Xu wrote: "Train well to participate in the Olympics. Be diligent in learning to be an all-round talent."
