Six-gold target for Commonwealth Games

SINGAPORE — Their hair may be in tints of blonde, green and reddish-brown, but there is no doubt when it comes to medals at the Commonwealth Games later this month (July 23 to Aug 3), Singapore’s paddlers are aiming for gold.

At the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) headquarters in Toa Payoh yesterday, the national body revealed its target of matching the six-gold medal haul from the 2010 New Delhi Games haul, where only the men’s doubles title eluded them.

While the 2014 medal aim could be seen as a conservative target, there is no doubt the 10-strong team will again attempt to sweep the board.

Six players — Zhan Jian, Li Hu, Clarence Chew, Isabelle Li, Lin Ye, and Zhou Yihan — will make their Commonwealth Games debut alongside seniors Gao Ning, Yang Zi, world No 4 Feng Tianwei and Yu Mengyu (12).

Women’s team captain Feng Tianwei will lead the charge with the most number of events: Women’s team, singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

On the back of three wins on the International Table Tennis Federation World Tour, the 27-year-old said: “It will be tough because I’m also competing in four events at the Asian Games (Sept 19 to Oct 4), so I will need to maintain myself physically and mentally. We have a new team this time … confidence among the team is good, but we are lacking a little in experience.”

Feng’s nearest opposition by world ranking is England’s Joanna Drinkhall at 109, followed by Australians Lay Jian Fang (113) and Zhenhua Dederko (121).

By contrast, the men face stronger opposition, with world No 12 Gao Ning just 28 spots above closest rival Achanta Sharath Kamal of India, who with Subharjit Saha beat Gao Ning and Yang Zi to the men’s doubles gold in 2010.

India and England as seen as the men’s team’s strongest rivals while Australia, Canada and India are expected to test the women.

To aid the Singapore paddlers’ preparations, the STTA has recruited sparring partners whose playing styles are similar to these rivals. Both the men’s and women’s teams are also off to Linz, Austria, tomorrow for two weeks of centralised training.

National women’s team head coach Jing Junhong is aware of the pressures that her team will face.

“In terms of playing standards, our overall team strength is higher than our opponents, but the pressure is greater at these Games,” said Jing.

“We have a lot of new players this time and it is the first time they are facing such pressure, so we have been more detailed in preparing them mentally. Our younger players are different from the ones we had previously, they are braver and show great fighting spirit. At last year’s SEA Games, they proved that they could deal with pressure and I believe they can do it this time.”

Fast fact:

13

Number of gold medals Singapore won in table-tennis since the sport’s inclusion into the Commonwealth Games in 2002