Sarawak juniors retain national table tennis title

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Ling (right) and TTAS chairman Tan Keng Yau (fourth right) celebrating with the Sarawak contingent after emerging as the overall champions again in the 36th Milo Malaysia Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championship in Kuala Lumpur recently. — Photos courtesy of Kuala Lumpur Table Tennis Association

Ling (right) and TTAS chairman Tan Keng Yau (fourth right) celebrating with the Sarawak contingent after emerging as the overall champions again in the 36th Milo Malaysia Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championship in Kuala Lumpur recently. — Photos courtesy of Kuala Lumpur Table Tennis Association

Girls U18 singles champion Catherine Chan (centre) and runner-up Alice Chang posing with Michael Teo who is also Table Tennis Association of Malaysia vice president after the prize presentation.

Girls U18 singles champion Catherine Chan (centre) and runner-up Alice Chang posing with Michael Teo who is also Table Tennis Association of Malaysia vice president after the prize presentation.

KUCHING: Sarawak won another gold medal on the final day of the 36th Milo Malaysia Junior and Cadet Table Tennis at Dewan Serbaguna DBKL Menara PT80 last Thursday for a total medal haul of four gold, three silver and four bronze to successfully retain their overall championship crown.

They finished ahead of Selangor and host Kuala Lumpur.

Catherine Chan from Miri outshone national paddler Alice Chang of Kuching to lift the Girls U18 singles gold.

She won 4-3 (9-11, 11-9, 12-10, 7-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7) in a tightly contested final.

She was one of Sarawak’s best performers with two gold medals, with the other gold from the Girls U18 team.

The other double-gold medallists were Crystal Tiong and Sia Hsiao Ching.

Crystal and Hsiao Ching, both from Sibu, were crowned the Girls U18 doubles champions after they defeated Alice Chang and Andrea Tan in the final.

Meanwhile, Christopher Goh Kho of Kuching could only collect a bronze medal in the Boys U15 singles after losing 1-4 to Danny Ng of Kuala Lumpur.

The top seed Chin Wen Jie, also from Kuala Lumpur, emerged the champion after beating Danny Ng 4-1 in the final.

Table Tennis Association of Sarawak (TTAS) deputy chairman Ling Kiing Tasn, who accompanied the Sarawak contingent, said he was happy with the good performance of the state paddlers, especially the girls teams.

“It was really tough for us to defend our overall championship title, with strong opposition from Selangor and Kuala Lumpur but we managed to pull through and beat Selangor only by three points and the points we collected from the team results helped us greatly,” he said.

“We are also honoured to have the presence of our TTAS president Michael Teo who has given us tremendous encouragement and motivation during the championship,” he added.