TTAM banking on Ho Ying-Karen in Manila

KUALA LUMPUR: The Table Tennis Association of Malaysia (TTAM) is targeting one bronze at the Philippines SEA Games in November, and it hopes 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ho Ying-Karen Lyne can rise to the occasion again.

TTAM vice-president Dr Chin Kuen Liang said it set a modest target of one bronze medal through the women's doubles pair based on the current performance of the national paddlers and the pair's impressive form at the Gold Coast Games where they beat the odds to win bronze.

“If possible, we want to win more but this is a realistic target because some countries like Singapore use foreign players, so they are stronger than us. Moreover, there is no team event this time, making the task more difficult,” he told reporters after a working committee meeting with the National Sports Council here.

Malaysia will be represented by four men and four women players in the five events to be contested, namely men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles.

Chin said TTAM had also appointed a new head coach, Mu Tong from China, last month.

“He is the former coach of former Japanese national champion Ai Fukuham, who won a silver at the 2012 London Olympics and bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He is very experienced and has also arranged competitions and training for our players in China.

“Besides our plans to bring in sparring partners from China and the Philippines, we have also lined up a lot of international events, including the Commonwealth Championships in India (June) and Asian Championship in Bali (September),” he said.

Chin said the final line-up of national paddlers for the SEA Games will decided in June through a selection competition.

At the 2017 KL SEA Games, the table tennis squad only managed to deliver two bronze medals through the men's and women's team events from the seven events contested. Singapore topped the competition with five golds, while Thailand and Vietnam won one gold each. - Bernama