Singapore ended their campaign at the Asian Table Tennis Championships yesterday, as Feng Tianwei and Gao Ning were eliminated in the women's and men's singles quarter-finals and round of 16 respectively.
World No. 3 Feng lost 7-11, 2-11, 8-11 to China's world No. 5 Chen Meng at the Wuxi Sports Centre Gym, while Gao fell 11-5, 9-11, 2-11, 10-12 to Japan's Koki Niwa.
The Republic's men and women had finished sixth and eighth respectively in the earlier team events.
Singapore Table Tennis Association senior high performance manager Eddy Tay said it had been a good outing for the paddlers, some of whom were playing at the biggest meet of their budding careers.
"Overall, some of the younger players like Ethan Poh and Wong Xin Ru have exceeded expectations and performed well despite this being their debut Asian Championships," he said. "I hope that this will continue to motivate them to train harder."
Xin Ru, 16, bagged a crucial point in Singapore's 3-1 win over Malaysia, while Ethan, 18, also won a match in the men's 3-1 win over North Korea.
This was also Feng's first competitive team outing after being axed from the national set-up last October. The 30-year-old said: "Actually I think I did quite okay today and I'm satisfied with my performance overall. I can feel my form getting better with each match."
Two stunning results yesterday were men's and women's world No. 1s Ma Long and Ding Ning's losses to South Korean Jeong Sang Eun and Japanese Miu Hirano in the last 32 and quarter-finals respectively.
Chua Siang Yee