Money finally pours in for table tennis

SINGAPORE — Like the dry weather spell that has hit Singapore since early this year, the Singapore Table Tennis Association’s (STTA) sponsorship drive also experienced a drought from last October as the national sports association (NSA) endured a fruitless five-month search for its next partner.

The STTA’s last three-year deal of S$800,000 with 100PLUS was signed in October, and there was finally some good news for the sport yesterday as it inked a new three-year, S$300,000 cash sponsorship agreement with Neo Garden Catering at its Toa Payoh headquarters.

Table tennis chief Lee Bee Wah had approached Neo Kah Kiat, founder and Chairman of Neo Group Limited, after reading about the food caterer boss in a local newspaper.

“It is a long dry spell and this morning the rain (sponsorship money) came and everyone in STTA is very happy as we have additional S$300,000 and we can do more programmes with this money,” she said yesterday.

Although the STTA has been raking in over S$4 million in sponsorships funds since 2011, players had competed in fewer overseas tournaments last year to prevent the NSA from going into the red.

A proposal and bid to host the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour Grand Finals are also on hold till the STTA is able to secure funding of an estimated S$1 million from the Singapore Sports Council and sponsors.

Said Lee: “With the opening of the Sports Hub, there is a lot of competition for funding. Money is being put into tennis, netball but not in table tennis yet. We have the 2015 SEA Games and Singapore celebrating our 50th anniversary, so a lot of donations and fund-raising are going on.”

Table tennis enthusiast Neo was delighted to join the STTA’s burgeoning roster of partners that includes Grace Shine, Crocodile, Keppel and Mitsubishi Electric.

“I have a passion for table tennis since my childhood and until today I still love it,” he said. “We have a long-term plan … if things go well, maybe I will extend another three more years from six to nine years.”

The STTA’s newest deal will be a boost to the national paddlers ahead of a busy season as they head for Kaohsiung, Taiwan, today for a 44-day centralised training camp ahead of the March 20-22 Asian Cup and the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Tokyo from April 28 to May 5.

While the women’s team had won a historic gold at the 2010 World Team Championships and finished second two years later, head coach Jing Junhong is aiming for a top-eight finish this time with a new-look team comprising Feng Tianwei, Yu Mengyu, and local players Isabelle Li and Yee Herng Hwee.

“Last round we had Tianwei, Li Jiawei and Wang Yuegu, but two of them have retired,” explained Jing.

“We are aiming for the top eight and then we will fight on from there. We may be ranked world No 3 now but in terms of team strength, we might not be in the top three. We have to keep our expectations realistic.”

The Republic’s top female player, world No 4 Feng, is also gearing up for a season of change.

The 2012 Olympics double bronze medallist is in the process of reinventing her game with tweaks to her technique and mentality, and will also need to adapt to the ITTF’s ball change from July 1 that will see the celluloid ball changed to a bigger plastic ball that gives less spin and bounce.

Designed to slow down the game, it will be used at the Incheon Asian Games (Sept 19 to Oct 4). However, it has not been confirmed if the ball will be adopted for the July 23 to Aug 3 Commonwealth Games in Scotland.

“I have not had the chance to try out the new ball … it will be a big change for us,” said Feng. “Right now I’m just reinventing myself, hoping to hit a new peak and get another breakthrough.”