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No table tennis clean sweep for Singapore

SINGAPORE — There will be no clean sweep of the table tennis gold medals for Singapore at the Commonwealth Games after the sole surviving mixed doubles pair of Zhan Jian and Feng Tianwei were handed a shock 3-2 defeat by England’s Liam Pitchford and Ho Tin-Tin in the semi-finals at Scotstoun Sports Campus in Glasgow.

SINGAPORE — There will be no clean sweep of the table tennis gold medals for Singapore at the Commonwealth Games after the sole surviving mixed doubles pair of Zhan Jian and Feng Tianwei were handed a shock 3-2 defeat by England’s Liam Pitchford and Ho Tin-Tin in the semi-finals at Scotstoun Sports Campus in Glasgow.

The loss to Pitchford, 21, and Ho, 15, was unexpected, given that the Singaporean duo looked poised for gold after cruising to 3-0 victories over their opponents from Ghana, Malaysia and Nigeria in the earlier rounds to advance to the top four.

Zhan and Feng will play England’s Danny Reed and Kelly Sibley in the bronze medal match today, with the final set for an all-English clash between Pitchford and Ho, and Paul and Joanna Drinkhall.

“They didn’t play so well today as their opponents were able to play a varied game and made a lot of changes throughout,” said Singapore national men’s team head coach Yang Chuan Ning.

“Their men’s player was very aggressive and the other played a very steady game. At 2-2 there was some hope but the English pair played really well. If we had won the first game we would have had a better chance.

“But with only five games to play there was no chance of recovery (after losing the first two). Our mixed doubles was actually our best bet for gold, and we have to go back and analyse their game.”

Singapore’s paddlers won six out of seven gold medals on offer at the 2010 Games in New Delhi, only missing out on a clean sweep after losing the men’s doubles title to India.

Nonetheless, the Singapore Table Tennis Association remains on course to meet its pre-Games target of six golds, having already won the men’s and women’s team.

Singapore’s hunt for gold in Glasgow for continues over the weekend in the women’s singles — team-mates Feng and Yu Mengyu will contest the final — men’s singles and doubles.

Over at the Emirates Arena last night, Singapore’s mixed doubles hopes in badminton also ended with Chayut Triyachart and Yao Lei, losing 2-0 to top seeded English pair Chris and Gabrielle Adcock, while Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Vanessa Neo (world No 10) stumbled in their rematch against Malaysia’s Chan Peng Soon and Lai Pei Jing — the Singaporeans lost the decider to Chan and Lai in the mixed team semi-final last week — losing 2-1.

But there was unexpected joy for Singapore’s gymnasts yesterday, as Hoe Wah Toon clinched a bronze in the men’s vault final on the final day of gymnastics competition at the SSE Hydro arena.

Up against a field of seven other finalists, the 25-year-old dentist was first up on the vault, scoring 14.258 and 14.133 points in his two attempts for a 14.195 average to finish third behind Canada’s Scott Morgan (14.733) and Kristian Thomas of England (14.499).

“I’m really happy I won and surprised too as I didn’t expect this,” said Ho on winning his first medal at a major Games.

“My parents were here to support me but they flew off today at 2pm and it’s a pity they weren’t here to see me, so I really want to call them to tell them I won.”

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