Tan Zhao Yun shines as S’pore women earn bronze at Asian Table Tennis Team C’ships

SINGAPORE – Not only is Tan Zhao Yun a member of the national intermediate table tennis squad, she also runs YouTube channel TRYTT as a hobby – the 2,100-subscriber channel has 85 videos and it is managed by Tan and her twin brother Zhao Ray.

But when she returns from the Asian Table Tennis Team Championships in Bhubaneswar, the 20-year-old will have plenty of highlight reels of herself to post, after she played a starring role in world No. 23 Singapore’s return to the podium with a joint-bronze alongside South Korea.

On Oct 13, the unheralded world No. 166 claimed two crucial points in Singapore’s 3-2 win over 11th-ranked hosts India in the women’s team quarter-finals at the Kalinga-Athletics HPC Building.

After sweeping Kazakhstan and the Maldives, ranked 40th and 68th respectively, 3-0 in the group stage, and then Malaysia in the play-off to reach the last eight, Singapore then faced India in front of a partisan home crowd.

Up stepped Tan, who had played just one earlier match against Kazakhstan, to become the unexpected star of Singapore’s campaign as the chopper stunned world No. 44 Manika Batra 3-1, followed by 86th-ranked Diya Chitale 3-0 to finish the event unbeaten.

She was not fielded in the 3-0 defeat by Japan in the semi-finals on Oct 14 – Singapore eventually clinched a joint-bronze as there was no third-place play-off.

The second-year Singapore Management University computer science undergraduate told The Straits Times: “I had beaten Manika in another tournament last month, so coach (Jing Jun Hong) hoped I was able to win again.

“I was initially quite stressed and nervous, but I took it as an opportunity to play against different styles as we don’t have anyone in our team who plays with long pimples like her.

“After beating her, we were up 2-0 and then when it was 2-2 and I had to play again, I told myself to just do my best against Diya Chitale. Don’t think too much and play like I would during training.

“In the end, I’m happy to be able to contribute to the team’s victory.”

Indian newspaper The Hindu hailed the defensive specialist’s “remarkable consistency”, noting: “Tan’s defensive mastery proved the ultimate weapon. Her control and variation not only unsettled Manika in the opening match but also dismantled Diya’s rhythm when it mattered the most.”

Under their father’s influence, the Tan siblings started playing table tennis at six. Both started off as attackers before Zhao Yun was persuaded by her coach to switch to a defensive style because her attacks were not powerful enough.

She said: “I was initially quite reluctant as my peers were all attackers, but afterwards I found that it matched my patient personality to be a defensive personality.

“Every athlete wants to compete with the best at the Olympics and that’s my dream too.

“But I haven’t thought about whether I want to play full-time, so for now my goal is to win a SEA Games medal first.”

National women’s coach Jing was encouraged by Tan’s display and how her young team – average age 20 – managed to improve on their performances in 2023 (seventh) and 2024 (eighth) to match their joint-third finish in 2021.

She said: “This is a pleasant surprise. The younger players treasure their spot in the national team and have a strong desire to want to compete and prove themselves.

“During the build-up, they have trained hard while juggling their studies and also had the experience of playing on the World Table Tennis circuit.

“Zhao Yun is one such disciplined player who has a stable game and is capable of handling pressure. She has improved in terms of her technique, footwork, awareness and game IQ, and her playing style is an asset to us.

“Against India, we fielded her because we felt our opponents preferred to play attacking players and she would cause them problems as a chopper. I hope there can be more young players stepping up like her, so that we can have more strength in depth and variation for the national team so that we can have specific weapons to counter specific opponents.”

After the siblings – her brother is also in the intermediate squad – helped Hwa Chong Institution clinch a unique A Division table tennis boys and girls’ teams double in 2023, Tan set her sights on making it to the national team after completing her A levels.

In February 2024, she outlasted Germany’s Mia Gressel 3-2 in the WTT Youth Contender Tunis girls’ singles final for her first singles title on the World Table Tennis Circuit. Three months later, she beat Phatsaraphon Wonglakhon to help Singapore edge out Thailand 3-2 in the South-east Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships girls’ team final.

Tan’s emergence and the performances of her teammates will raise hopes that Singapore can reclaim the SEA Games women’s team gold they last won in 2017. In 2023, they managed only a disappointing joint-bronze with Vietnam.

In India, none of the Singaporeans, led by world No. 50 and 28-year-old Zeng Jian, lost to a lower-ranked opponent.

Against Japan, world No. 179 Ser, 19, put up a good fight against seventh-ranked Miwa Harimoto before losing 3-1 (11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 15-13), while world No. 178 Loy Ming Ying, who turns 15 only on Oct 26, was fearless in her 3-0 (13-11, 16-14, 11-7) win over Malaysia’s Alice Chang 13-11, 16-14, 11-7 in the play-off. Chloe Lai, 18, who did not play, is another promising prospect.

Jing said: “They are still young and most of them will be playing in their first SEA Games, but such a performance will help to increase their confidence going forward.”

Meanwhile, Singapore’s men’s team retained their ninth position by beating Kazakhstan 3-2 in the play-off on Oct 13.