Paddlers bank on Ho Ying and Ashraf to step up to the plate

A NEW-look Malaysian table tennis team will be counting on senior paddlers Ho Ying and Muhd Ashraf Haiqal to spring a surprise in Gold Coast.

The Table Tennis Association of Malaysia (TTAM) have already been decimated by the loss of three seniors - women players Ng Sock Khim, Lee Rou You and men paddler Muhd Shakirin Ibrahim.

Sock Khim and Shakirin, both in their 30s, called it a day after the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games last year while the 22-year-old Rou You decided to focus on her studies.

The loss of Sock Khim and Rou You, who were members of Malaysia’s historic silver medal team at the 2014 Glasgow Games, is particularly hard to take.

National head coach Beh Lee Wei is hoping that the 22-year-old Ho Ying and 23-year-old Ashraf would step up and lead the line.

“The team now lack the experience and it will be hard to repeat our silver medal achievement four years ago,” admitted Lee Wei.

“To win a medal will be hard and I’m really hoping the younger players can pull off a good showing after our three-week stint in China before coming here.

“But it is good to see that Ashraf and Ho Ying are becoming good team leaders since they are both the only remaining ones who played in Glasgow.”

Besides Ho Ying, the other women players in the squad are Tee Ai Xin, Karen Lyne and reigning national champion Alice Chang.

Leong Chee Feng, Choong Javen and Mohd Azwan Bakar make up the rest of the men’s team alongside Ashraf.

The competition will start with the team event at the Oxenford Studios today.

The Malaysian women are drawn with defending champions Singapore and Sri Lanka in Group A.

The men are in Group D with Nigeria and Belize.

“The draw is not so bad as the women play Singapore first and we will not get drawn with them again in the second round,” mused Lee Wei.

“The men have it tougher as Nigeria have Quadri Aruna, who made the top eight at the Rio Olympics. But I believe they still stand a chance of making the quarter-finals.”