by Ian Marshall, Editor
Pertinently, it is the one national tournament in which the current leading Singaporean players compete. Clarence Chew, Ethan Poh Shao Feng, Pang Yew En Koen and Josh Chua Shao Han are all on duty as are Yu Mengyu, Lin Ye, Zeng Jian, Goi Ruixuan and Wong Xinru.
Furthermore, the names of former national players, most notably Pang Xuejie and Isabelle Siyun Li, also appear on the entry list.
Overall, there are seven events on the itinerary: men’s team, women’s team, men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
During the week, from Monday to Friday, play commences at 7.00 pm and concludes at 10.30 pm; at the weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, proceedings begin at 9.00 am and draw to a conclusion at 10.30 pm.
The finals of the men’s team and women’s team events concluded on Sunday 6th January. In the men’s team competition Sunsports Team 6 (Poh Shao Feng Ethan, Chua Shao Han Josh, Tay Jit Kiat) secured top spot ahead of Safra White (Chew Zhe Yu Clarence, Koh Song Jun Dominic, Tang Hua). Bronze medallists were SSP Red (Pang Yew En Koen, Wong Yan Kai Andy, Quek Yong Izaac, Chong Xin Le Nicholas) and Sunsports Team 4 (Zhang Ding Ji, Ng Daniel, Shi Kexun, Ong Yang En Regis).
Meanwhile in the women’s team event, SSP Red (Goi Rui Xuan, Zhou Jingyi, Ser Lin Qian) emerged as the champions, the runners up being NTU Hall 6 Alumni Team B (Wu Yao Yao, Koh Jing Wen Monica, Koh Gaoh Cai Idys, Ban Yinyi Dorothea). Beaten semi-finalists were SSP Orange (Liu Sija, Cheng Yoke Ning Janissa, Koh Jia Qi, Tan Xin Qi Shana) and Sunsports Team 13 (Wong Xin Ru, Tan Li Lin Jassy, Lam Teng Si, Wong Hoi Ching Mandy).
Individual events now follow, the finals to be played on Sunday 13th January. Gao Ning and Lin Ye are the reigning respective men’s singles and women’s singles champions; the men’s doubles title holders are Pang Xue Jie and Lucas Tan, the women’s doubles incumbents Tan En Hui and Zhang Wanling; Pang Xue Jie and Zhang Wanling are the current mixed doubles champions.
2018-2019 Singapore National Championships: Full tournament details