Singapore surge into last eight to face Chinese Taipei

Singapore's women continued their march at the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Chengdu, China on Wednesday, defeating the Czech Republic 3-1 to progress to the quarter-finals.

They will meet Chinese Taipei, who beat India 3-0, for a place in the semi-finals on Thursday.

Singapore trailed early in their match against the Czechs, as world No. 130 Zhou Jingyi's valiant display was not enough against 28th-ranked Hana Matelova. The 17-year-old went down 3-1 (11-8, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9).

World No. 54 Zeng Jian, Singapore's top-ranked player in the absence of the 18th-ranked Feng Tianwei, then had to be on her toes to overcome Katerina Toma-novska.

Despite being ranked 206th, the Czech put up a good showing to lead 9-5 in the first game and 5-2 in the second and third, before Zeng prevailed with her variety and quality of shots to win 3-0 (12-10, 11-9, 11-9).

World No. 195 Wong Xin Ru, 20, then stepped up to give 2010 champions Singapore the lead when she beat the 404th-ranked Marketa Sevcikova 3-0 (11-7, 14-12, 11-7).

Zeng, who has not lost a match at this tournament, returned to the table to claim her sixth win in six days.

She overwhelmed Matelova 3-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-7) to seal the overall victory for Singapore.

The 25-year-old said: "From being quite clueless and helpless at the SEA Games to getting used to being one of the key players at the Commonwealth Games, I feel I have grown a lot.

"Add to this process the daily training, and my game has gotten a lot tighter and sharper, which helps me be more confident in matches even in difficult situations.

"The coaches put a lot of trust in me, and I feel I can still do better to help the team achieve good results."

Wednesday's result means the team have improved on their previous performance at the 2018 edition, when the likes of Feng, Yu Mengyu and Lin Ye were stunned 3-2 by Ukraine in the round of 16.

They last collected a medal in 2014, when they reached the semi-finals to claim the shared bronze.

National women's coach Jing Junhong said: "Today, we were up against a traditional European team that play away from the table with powerful, quality strokes, which can be quite oppressive.

"But we were nimble in our tactics and technique and demonstrated resolute fighting spirit and a strong desire to win.

"It will be another tough match next, and we will prepare as best as we can in terms of strategy and psychology."

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