SEA Games: End of an era as Singapore women's team surrender table tennis crown
HANOI - The Singapore women's table tennis team's dominance in the SEA Games is over after Thailand ended their nine-gold streak in Vietnam on Sunday (May 15).
The women have won the team event at the biennial Games since 1999, except in 2011 and 2019, when the event did not feature.
Thailand, however, finally clinched gold after finishing second for six consecutive Games.
World No. 135 Zhou Jingyi lost the opening tie 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-7) at the Hai Duong Gymnasium to world No. 21 Olympian Suthasini Sawettabut.
Debutant Zhou, 17, had no answer to Suthasini - who beat Feng Tianwei en route to winning the 2015 SEA Games singles final - and her aggressive shots.
World No. 112 Orawan Paranang then doubled Thailand's lead with a 3-2 (11-4, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 12-10) victory over world No. 55 Zeng Jian in a tightly-contested match.
It was then down to world No. 184 Wong Xin Ru to give the Republic another fighting chance. But after putting up a tough fight, she eventually fell 3-1 (11-6, 12-10, 8-11, 11-4) to world No. 118 Jinnipa Sawettabut.
The Singapore men's and women's table tennis teams will next be in action in the doubles events on Monday.
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