Heartbreak for paddler Yee
Singaporean paddler Yee Herng Hwee came agonisingly close to qualifying for the main draw of the women's singles event at the World Table Tennis Championships in Dusseldorf, Germany, yesterday.
The 19-year-old had defeated Eva Brito from the Dominican Republic 4-2 earlier in her last qualifying match to top her group.
Winners in the first 13 women's groups out of 51 (according to the players' world rankings) qualified directly for the main draw.
The rest of the group winners had to win an additional knockout round to book their berths in the main draw.
Yee was in the latter group and all she had to do was beat Sweden's Christina Kallberg last night to progress to the main draw.
But it was not to be for the Singaporean as she lost 4-2 to the Swede.
In the men's singles, Ethan Poh, Clarence Chew and Pang Xue Jie topped their qualifying groups.
All winners in the 64 qualification groups had to navigate through the knockout round.
The Singaporean trio were in action last night, but the results were not available at press time.
Meanwhile, the women's doubles pair of Zhang Wanling and Tan En Hui also failed to qualify for the main draw.
Singapore's mixed doubles pair of Pang and Yu Mengyu were scheduled to play Malaysia's Leong Chee Feng and Ho Ying at press time. - JOLENE ANG
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