‘M’sia paddlers needs better development programme’
SHAH ALAM: “Malaysia needs a better table tennis development programme to compete against the giants.”
That was the reaction from national paddler, Leong Chee Feng, after the Malaysian squad were defeated 0-3 by world number two, Germany, in the World Team Table Tennis Championship ( WTTC) 2016, at Malawati Stadium, here.
The 18- year- old feels that Malaysia has to give greater emphasis on table tennis if the country wanted to be on par with the world power houses such as China, Germany, Japan and South Korea.
“I fe e l our development programme is not so good compared to that of other countries, that is where we lose the talents. With more emphasis given to sports like badminton, the standard of table tennis is dropping.
“In 1973, the men’s team ranked 18th in the world championship, but now we are struggling and in the last world cup, we just managed to finish at 61st place,” said the 2015 SEA Games men’s team bronze medallist.
This year’s edition is the third world championship for the former student of SMJK Katholik, Petaling Jaya, who started to play table tennis at the tender age of eight.
The ambitious Chee Feng, who is waiting for his Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia ( SPM) examination results, plans to put his education on hold for a moment to focus on the game.
“My actual ambition is to become pilot, but now I want to be involved fully in table tennis for two years,” he said, adding that founding a table tennis academy and league might help to develop the game here.
The Malaysian squad which competed in division three in the 2014 Tokyo World Championship, weregivenachancetorubshoulders with the best teams in the world in the first division, which is also known as championship division, for the sake of hosting the event.
Things got more complicated for the national squad when they were drawn in Group B together with European powerhouses Germany and Sweden as well as France, Denmark and England, with 24 European title holders in the same group.
Earlier, Steffen Mengel defeated Muhamad Ashraf Haiqal 11-2, 11- 4 and 11-2, while Ruwen Filus beat Chee Feng 11-7, 11- 4, 11-7. This was followed by Timo Boll’s 11- 6, 11- 5 and 11- 9 win over Muhd Sakirin Ibrahim.
The national team which were defeated 0- 3 by France yesterday will play against Sweden in round three later.
The three-week training stint at China’s table tennis base, Zhengding, saw some improvement but not enough for the national paddlers to compete against the giants in the first division. — Bernama