Nanyang Polytechnic, Monday, 5 January 2009 - Second runners-up in the last IVP and champions in the Polytechnic-ITE (POL-ITE) Games, Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) men’s table tennis team seek to maintain their high standards in this edition.

In their opening Group B game at home, they effortlessly brushed aside Temasek Polytechnic (TP) 5-0.

Leading the way to victory was team skipper Kerk Bing Lin. He sparked the winning momentum in the opening singles against TP’s Colin Wee Sheng Rong.

After an even start, unforced errors by Wee gave Kerk the opportunity to seize advantage as he went on a 6-1 run to seal the first set 11-7.

In the second set, he carried on where he left off, utilizing his wide range of strokes to force his opponent to either smash wide or hit the netting. He eventually wrapped up the game 11-6.

Just when it seemed nothing could go wrong for the NYP skipper as he went into the third set 7-4, Wee had other ideas.

Backs against the ball, the TP paddler made a gritty comeback to force a tense see-saw in the race for 11 points.

With deuce at 11-all, Kerk attempted an ambitious forward smash after a long rally, only for the ball to hit the net and give Wee the game point which was duly converted.

The NYP paddler made sure there would be no repeat for the third set when he dominated the final set. Wee tried to fight back but found his opponent’s aggressive strokes too strong to handle.

With match point at 10-4, impatience in seeing out the game cost Kerk thrice before Wee’s wide return sealed the match for NYP.

He was glad to have gotten the team off to victory in the tournament. “The first match is very important on the mental aspect as it can boost or affect the morale of the team thereafter.

“It was good to get myself and the team off to a winning start. After my win, it brought up team morale.”

 While the skipper believes whichever team he fields in the matches can do his job, he singles out the team’s best player as the one who can help the team challenge the big two of the tournament, National University of Singapore (NUS) and reigning champions Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

“Shen (Jia Ru) is easily one of the best players around here, having been regarded as one of the leading junior players back in his homeland China.