Aldrea Leong came up against Olympic silver medallist and world No. 6 Feng Tianwei (above).
15-year-old Raffles Girls’ School student Aldrea Leong knew it would be a daunting task to go up against Olympic silver medallist Feng Tianwei, but she could take heart for earning herself the “crowd favourite” tag. Going up against the more experienced national paddler, she received all cheers from the small crowd who were gathered at the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) yesterday for the National Table Tennis Grand Finale.
The national youth paddler went down 4 – 11, 3 – 11, 3 – 11 to the world No. 6 in less than 15 minutes. However, she had already expected the result, and took this as a learning experience. “It was a really a good opportunity for me to learn from the best. She’s so quick and moves the ball all over the table”, she said, heaping considerable praise on her opponent.
This is the first year in which national paddlers like Feng and fellow Olympic silver medallist Wang Yuegu will compete in the National Championships after the STTA decided that as part of the national team, the paddlers have a duty to promote table tennis locally as well. The inclusion of the national paddlers will also expose the public to world-class table tennis action live, something that was once seen only on television.
The competition is held at the STTA’s headquarters in Toa Payoh and will end with the finals on Saturday.