Singapore Table Tennis Association sets modest two-gold SEA Games target in Cambodia

SINGAPORE – Despite seeing her players produce a spate of encouraging performances recently, Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) president Poh Li San has put up a modest target of two gold medals for the May 5-17 SEA Games in Cambodia.

At a media conference on Thursday, she noted the hectic season ahead that includes the May 20-28 World Table Tennis Championships, Sept 23-Oct 8 Asian Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics.

She added: “More importantly, we want our young players to have exposure, to prepare them for the long runway ahead... the SEA Games are an opportunity for them to be better athletes.

“Of course, all of us will be very happy if there are more gold medals, but we just want them to do their best.”

Poh’s conservative outlook is understandable considering the table tennis contingent’s younger average age of 21.3 years (down from 22.1 in 2022), the selection of three debutants Beh Kun Ting, Izaac Quek and Ser Lin Qian, and the reduced reliance on naturalised players, with Zeng Jian the only China-born player in the squad.

This strategy also saw Singapore lose its title as South-east Asia’s top table tennis nation for the first time since 1997.

At the Hanoi SEA Games in 2022, the Republic clinched two golds in the men’s and mixed doubles, outdone by Thailand who won the women’s singles, doubles and both team events.

However, since then, the national players have been buoyed by some fine results, reclaiming the Commonwealth Games women’s team title in 2022 with the aid of Feng Tianwei, who is currently pursuing further education.

Without Feng, the women’s team led by Zeng narrowly missed out on a medal at the 2022 World Team Table Tennis Championships when they lost 3-2 to Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals.

At the 2023 Singapore Smash, Koen Pang and Quek also made inroads to the main draw of the men’s singles and doubles and later became the first Singapore-born players to

break into the top 80 of the world rankings.

National women’s coach Jing Junhong said: “In the past year of hard work, our players have made good improvement.

“Winning gold will not come easy, but we will not be afraid of the challenge. Young players must have the desire to cause upsets and fight for every point.”

The national team also had three weeks of centralised training locally with more than 10 sparring partners from China, South Korea and France to prepare for various playing styles.

But in Phnom Penh, they will face an additional challenge with the new rules imposed. Each player can participate in a maximum of only two – down from three – individual events. The team event is a separate category.

While the STTA declined to reveal its line-up for the individual events, national men’s coach Gao Ning downplayed the impact of the restriction, noting it could work out to Singapore’s advantage as his players are evenly matched.

For example, there is keen competition among Clarence Chew, 2019 champion Pang and Quek for the two men’s singles spots.

Gao said: “The rules are the same for every country, we just have to prepare well within the rules.

“We will try to find a good balance among all the individual events.

“The challenge is for us coaches to come up with reasonable redistribution and an effective game plan to maximise the players’ strengths.”