Well done: Women's table tennis team led by Beh Lee Wei have reached the final.
PHNOM PENH: “Finally, we did it!”
This is the statement made by national paddler Alice Chang after the women's team smashed their way to the final for the first time in 30 years.
Malaysia last reached final at the Singapore SEA Games in 1993.
Alice and others - Karen Lyne, Alice Chang, Ho Ying, Tee Ai Xin and Im Li Ying had booked their berths after defeating Vietnam 3-1 in the semi-finals at the Morodok Techno National Stadium: Table Tennis yesterday.
Karen had given the team a good start after digging deep to overcome Mai Ngoc Tran 3-2 (10-12, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7).
Alice then doubled the team’s advantage by defeating Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh 3-1 (11-8, 8-11, 11-2, 12-10).
Ho Ying, however, could not maintain the team’s advantage as she fell to a 2-3 (11-7, 12-14, 11-7, 10-12, 7-11) defeat to Thi Nga Nguyen.
Karen fought back to defeat Khoa Dieu 3-1 (8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9) to help the team reach the final.
“We finally did it again after 30 years!” said Alice.
“I feel very happy because we achieved our target - to reach the final.”
With the win, they have already secured at least a silver medal.
Alice, however, did not want to be carried away by the superb win as they would be facing defending champions Thailand on Thursday (May 11).
The Thais have the upper hand based on the head-to-head record as the Malaysians have never beaten them in their previous meetings.
“Instead of feeling too happy, we have to control our emotions now because our task is not over yet. We will have an uphill battle tomorrow (Thursday),” said Alice.
“We have never beaten Thailand and in our last meeting in the SEA Championships last year, we lost 2-3.”
They had earlier outplayed Singapore 3-0 in their first Group B match on Tuesday before securing another amazing 3-0 win against hosts Cambodia on Wednesday to set up a meeting with Vietnam in the semi-finals.
It was their win against the Singaporeans that was the turning point as they have never beaten their neighbours, powered by China-born paddlers, for the longest time.
At the last biennial Games in Hanoi last year, the women’s team bagged the bronze medal after going down to eventual champions Thailand.
