S'pore women's table tennis team beat England
BIRMINGHAM - Singapore's table tennis players were not overawed by the partisan home support as they beat England 3-0 to get off to a good start in the Commonwealth Games women's team event on Friday (July 29).
Hundreds of locals flocked to Hall 3 at the National Exhibition Centre to watch the English paddlers play the first match of the day, but Singapore were a class above.
Zeng Jian partnered Zhou Jingyi to beat Charlotte Bardsley and Maria Tsaptsinos 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-9) in the opening doubles match.
World No. 16 Feng Tianwei then overcame an issue with the glare from the hall's lighting to beat 144th-ranked Ho Tin-Tin 3-1 (9-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-2).
World No. 60 Zeng then returned to the table to beat 313rd-ranked Tsaptsinos 3-0 (11-2, 11-6, 11-8) to seal the overall victory.
Singapore will play Nigeria later in the day, and another win should see them progress to the last eight as Group 1 winners and earn a more favourable quarter-final draw.
The Republic had dominated this event since table tennis was included in the Games programme in 2002, but suffered their first defeat in the 2018 final against India.
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