Securing An Olympic Silver

Singapore is finally excited to hear that it's table-tennis team have secured a silver medal in the Beijing Summer Olympic 2008.. It was a long road for us since it has been 48 years since we have our first Olympic medal..

Well, it was a very long wait but in the end they finally secured a silver medal.. However, I didn't manage to catch all the matches held today except the women singles between Li Jia Wei & Kim Kyung Ah which we watched in Singapore Polytechnic's Foodcourt 4..

Quite a crowd eh?

Today's table tennis match was between Singapore and South Korea.. Here are the players involve in today's match:

Singapore:

Li Jia Wei

Wang YueGu

Feng Tianwei

South Korea:

Park Mi Young

Kim Kyung Ah (Right) and Park Mi Yuong

Dang Ye Seo

Well, the battle rages on since afternoon when the first match; Feng Tianwei VS Dang Ye Seo kicks off.. Here are the highlights(Quoted from nbl.globalwhelming.com):

First Match: Feng Tianwei VS Dang Ye Seo
Feng Tianwei was the first up for Singapore and she won her match against Dang Ye Seo, 11-5, 11-5, 11-2, giving Singapore the lead.
She breezes through this match without a hitch, while Dang Ye Seo looks below par and not mentally prepared and was rather disturbed as she slides to a lose.

Second Match: Kim Kyung Ah VS Li Jiawei
Kim Kyung Ah beat Li Jiawei 3-2 in a five-set thriller, 5-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8.
This match was the best of the 5 that was played. Most of the best spins are saw here and we see Li Jiawei getting outwit at times by Kim Kyung Ah, who was playing a defensive game with some trick attacks. Li Jiawei who was looking really good in the first 2 sets, starts to lose ground and her expressions reminds me of her in Athens, when she was losing.

Third Match: Li Jiawei & Wang Yuegu VS Kim Kyung & Park Mi Young
The Singapore pair wrapped up this match efficiently with a 3-0 win over the S Korean pair, taking the match 11-7, 11-6, 11-9.
A doubles match that saw the Singapore pair outclass the Korean Pair with their really aggressive style. Played with 3 straight wins, it was an important match that kept Singapore in the hopes for a gold or silver medal.

Fourth Match: Wang Yuegu VS Dang Ye Seo
In the fourth match, Singapore’s Wang Yuegu lost 0-3 to S Korea’s Dang Ye Seo. She went down 11-8, 14-12, 11-9.
Before the match start, i thought Singapore has nailed it for sure, judging from Dang Ye Seo previous performance. But Dang Ye Seo took a 360 degree turn from her disappointing first match and this prove to be a shock for Wang Yuegu. Her change to a very aggressive style took Wang Yuegu by surprise when the Korean edges 7-0(right?) in the first set over her. She hit back after that, but that was not enough, and she lost to eventually in 3 very intense and close sets to the powerful Korean.

Last Match: Feng Tianwei VS Park Mi Young
In the rubber, Singapore’s Feng Tianwei beat S Korea’s Park Mi Young 3-1, taking the match 11-7, 12-10, 3-11, 11-9.
During the fourth match, we saw Feng cutting and preparing her paddle for the inevitable 5th set. Feng was on a really good form today, and i think she played the best among the Singaporean paddlers. And the match went overtime(after a 8-7 score with Feng leading), which was really crucial, but she did it. Her aggressive smashes made the Korean looks weak, though it killed off her too when a few of her confirmed points was wasted when she smashed wrongly. This match also see a heightened emotion among the Korean and Singaporean teams on the bench where Wang Yuegu and Kim Kyung both were sent off the bench with red cards for shouting advices.

Picture source from here..

In support for the Beijing Olympic Games, Singapore Mcdonalds released a set of Olympic cups with every Extra Value Meal..

Well, each type of cups comes at 1 type per week.. There are 5 cups to choose from; Archery, Volleyball, Athletics , Basketball and Swimming.. Quite a good set to collect but I have to spend some $$$ just to get them..

However, I didn't manage to get all of them due to either lack of funds or I wasn't interested in eating at McDonalds..

The only ones I got were:

Volleyball

Swimming

& Archery..

Well, it has been a rough ride for Singapore to clinch their first medal since Singapore's independence.. Well, I am happy that the Table Tennis were able to pull it off..

Speaking of the Olympic cups, did you manage to get the whole set?? ^^