Nanyang Polytechnic, Tuesday, 13 January 2009 - Temasek Polytechnic (TP) came from behind to defeat Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) 3-2 in their final Group B match of the IVP table tennis women’s team event held at Nanyang Polytechnic.

Prior to the match, both teams knew they were not going to advance beyond the first stage after losses to the hosts and Nanyang Technological University in their earlier group games.

Only pride and the carrot of avoiding the group wooden spoon were at stake as TP’s Hoo Li Ying took on her NP opponent Chia Siok Kiang in the opening singles match.

Hoo had a nervy start as unforced errors allowed Chia to take the initiative in the opening set, sealing the game at 11-6 with an ace return on the edge of the table.

Better stroke technique enabled Chia to extend the lead to two sets at 11-8, before setting up match point at 10-8 in the third set.

She squandered two match points as successive unforced errors handed the third set to Hoo at 12-10 and force a fourth set.

There was no repeat complacency in the final set as Chia capitalized on Hoo’s errors to wrap up the match at 11-5 and give NP a 1-0 lead.

NP skipper Zheng Wen doubled her side’s lead in the second singles match as she outclassed her determined but limited opponent Tiffany Shia Si Qi in straight sets 11-1, 11-5, 11-5.

However Jemina Lum Kim Sum and Tham Yihui from NP could not follow up from their teammates’ earlier efforts in their doubles match against TP’s Lee Tse Yun and Candice Ho Mingzhu.

TP took advantage of their lack of communication and teamwork coordination to reduce the gap in straight sets 11-3, 12-10, 11-8, but not before being given a scare in the middle of the match through overconfidence and carelessness.

Leck Hui continued where her doubles colleagues left off in the third singles when her aggressive play forced many errors from her NP opponent Patrina Lim Jingning to level the tie at 2-all with a comprehensive 11-7, 11-6, 11-4 win.

Their teams’ hopes for a first victory in the tournament now rested on the decisive singles match between Foo Hui Ting of NP and TP’s Carmen Ho Jian Min.

Ho came from 5-9 down in the first set to claw back and force deuce before securing the last two points to take the game at 12-10.

Her patient, cautious stroke play gave her the advantage as she forced Foo into making errors. The strategy eventually paid dividends as she helped TP win the tie 3-2 with a 12-10, 11-13, 11-6, 11-5 victory.

TP table tennis team captain Joseph Lam was pleased with what he saw in the girls’ performance.

“Today we sent the fringe players to get a taste of competitive games and they combined well with the regulars to do a good job for us,” he beamed.

“Credit to the doubles and third singles for giving us the points we needed so that our last singles player could use her patient approach to win the match for us.”

Lam hoped the positive result would spur the team to greater heights as they look to future tournaments in the year.

“For next season’s POL-ITE event, TP could gain from this experience to help them defend the women’s team title they won last year."

“This year, we had a very close game against the hosts that could have gone either way. We are looking to improve on the showing next year by reaching the semis.”