S'pore fight to win table tennis women's team gold
In one of the most dramatic table tennis finals in SEA Games history, the Singaporean trio of Feng Tianwei, Yu Mengyu and Isabelle Li beat Thailand 3-2 to clinch the women's team gold medal at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Both teams kept the 5,000-strong crowd, which included President Tony Tan and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, at the edge of their seats for more than three hours.
World No. 4 Feng twice drew Singapore level, before World No. 13 Yu Mengyu killed off the Thais in the fifth and final match.
But Yu began on a losing note, going down 3-1 (7-11, 11-8, 10-12, 9-11) to world No. 104 Nanthana Komwong in the first singles.
Feng restored parity by beating world No. 114 Tamolwan Khetkhuan 3-1 (13-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-6) in the next tie.
Singapore went behind again when World No. 107 Isabelle Li failed to overcome unranked Orawan Paranang, losing 3-2 ( 11-7, 9-11, 5-11, 11-8, 7-11).
But Feng levelled the proceedings with aplomb, wiping out Nanthana 3-0 (12-10, 11-8, 11-1).
And it was left to Yu to seal victory in dramatic see-saw fashion, downing Tamolwan 3-1 (10-12, 11-2, 15-13, 11-5).
Close to midnight, the men's team of Gao Ning, Li Hu and Clarence Chew beat Vietnam 3-1 to finish the table tennis competiton on a high for Team Singapore.
Although there was no clean sweep of gold medals, the table tennis team plundered a total of six golds, one silver and three bronzes.
Read the full report in our print edition on June 9.
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