Published on: Thursday, March 04, 2010 |
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah is aiming to do one better at this year's 30th Milo Malaysia Youth Table Tennis Championships, which would be held at the Confucian Private Secondary School in Kuala Lumpur from March 15-20, this year.
Team manager, Tommy Tong Vui Min said that the team would be sending 18 State athletes for the championship and that the hope is that they do one better than in last year's competition.
A setback for the State team this year, however, is that the Perpaduan events have been scraped from the championships, which means that its players would have to play in the main categories for a shot at winning a medal.
"The target for us is of course to do better than last year, where we won one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.
"A slight set back for us, however, is that there would be no Perpaduan events in the competition, this year. Norhidayah Yusof who won the team's only gold medal last year would have to compete with other athletes in the Girl's Under-15 category, which means less chance for us to win gold," said Tong.
He said this when met at his office here, Wednesday.
Tong, however, remains positive that the team would have a good showing at this year's championships, as there are several experienced players on the squad to guide the team through the competition.
Of the 18 athletes that would be making the trip to the national capital, eight would be playing in the Under-17 categories, while the rest are Under-15 players.
Last year's player, Tong Yie Keng, is joined by Goh Choon Kong, Jonathan Jenteck Chieng and Theophilus Tan Ti Fei in the Boy's Under-17 team, while Rachael Richard and Chung Ching Ni would join last year's players, Chung Tze Shun and Crystal Chua Jiu Jing in the Girl's Under-17 team.
The Boy's Under-15 team comprises Eric Chung Yuan Rong, Wayne Liew Wei Herng, Bryan Chin Tzen Kenn, Ahmad Sabrie Mustapan and Ho Chen Quan, while Wong May Chyi, Joanne Chin Tze En, Loh Qiao Xin, Loh Qiao Wen and Norhidayah Yusof are the state's pickings for the Girl's Under-15 squad.
Coaching the State athletes for this year's competition would be Chieng Shaw An, Kong Ching Leong and Alan Albert Au, while Jimmy Heng Huei Fwu from the Jambongan Table Tennis Association would be the Contingent Chief.
