Ping pong to the fore
Javen is first Malaysian to earn berth to Youth Olympic Games
PETALING JAYA: After last month’s high in the Gold Coast, table tennis reached new heights when Choong Javen became the first Malaysian to feature in the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from Oct 6-18.
Youngster Javen achieved the feat yesterday when he emerged as the boys’ singles champion in the Asian qualifiers held in Bangkok, Thailand.
The 17- year- old defeated Singapore’s top junior Chua Josh Shao Han 4-1 (11-13, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8, 11-7) in the boys’ singles main draw 1 final to claim his ticket to the Youth Olympics.
Javen opened accounts by beating Australia’s Benjamin Gould 4-1 (11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 11-5) in the first round.
He upset Canada’s second seed Jeremy Hazin 4-3 (11-4, 11-8, 11-13, 11-8, 5-11, 10-12, 11-3) in the last eight.
Javen, who represented the country at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games last month, continued to surprise by beating third seed Cheng Pak Hei of Hong Kong 4-2 (6-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9) in the semi-final.
Javen’s success comes on the back of the bronze medal feat by women’s doubles pair Ho YingKaren Lyne in last month’s Commonwealth Games.
The 24-year-old Ho Ying and 15-year-old Karen proved everybody wrong and even surprised themselves when they presented the nation with the first-ever table tennis medal in an individual event in the Games.
In the semi-finals, the Malaysians lost to India’s Manika Batra-Mouma Das (0-3) but bounced back superb- ly to see off another Indian pair Sutirtha Mukherjee-Pooja Sahasrabudhe (3-1) in the bronze medal playoff.
The bronze was certainly worth its weight in gold considering table tennis at the Commonwealth Games is always dominated by the likes of India, Singapore, Nigeria, England and Australia.
“It’s a good achievement for Malaysian table tennis to have a representative for the first time in the Youth Olympics.
“Thirteen boys and 13 girls took part in the Asian region YOG qualification tournament. Two boys and two girls were selected from the two knockout stages in this qualification tournament. The losers in main draw 1 would be drawn into main draw 2 to proceed to the second knockout stage,” said Table Tennis Association of Malaysia general manager Soong Poh Wah.
Malaysia’s girls’ singles paddler Tee Ai Xin failed to make the cut after a 1-4 (6-11, 7-11, 6-11, 11-4, 10-12) defeat to Kamath Archana from India in the quarter-finals of the main draw 1.
Ai Xin’s campaign ended with a 2-4 defeat (12-10, 7-11, 9-11, 11-9, 8-11, 10-12) to Finland’s Annika Lundstrom in the last eight stage of the main draw 2.
Besides table tennis, the national boys’ hockey team and rhythmic gymnast Rayna Hoh Khai Ling have also qualified for the Youth Olympics.