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Singapore’s best medal hopes could now rest on the shoulders of Yu Mengyu and her table tennis teammates. Photo: Reuters

Tokyo Olympics: Singapore, seeking new medal hope, to face China in table tennis quarter-finals after emphatic France win

  • Singapore, still without a medal at Tokyo 2020, advances to the last eight in the women’s team event
  • Formidable China to provide a stern test in the quarter-finals at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium

Follow our live coverage of day 10 of the Tokyo Olympics here

Singapore boosted its chances of landing a first medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games on Monday when its women’s table tennis team overcame France to book a place in the last eight of the competition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.

Boosted, but only slightly; the victory catapulted them straight into a clash with top-ranked China in the next round.

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The city state is looking for someone to step in where its top medal prospect, Joseph Schooling, fell down so spectacularly in the swimming pool last week.
The 26-year-old, who delivered Singapore its first ever Olympic gold with a stunning defeat of his hero Michael Phelps in the 100m butterfly at Rio 2016, saw his title defence ended emphatically as he trailed home in last place in his opening heat.

Singaporeans are now looking through their 23-strong roster to identify where their next-best chance of medal glory lies, in order to maintain the nation’s proud record of having secured medals at the past three editions of the Games.

It had never won a single medal before its women’s table tennis team secured silver at the 2008 Games in Beijing.

The best medal hope might again rest on the shoulders of the women’s team.

The last-16 victory over France was a clean sweep. First, the pairing of Lin Ye and Yu Mengyu overcame Stephanie Loeuillette and Yuan Jia Nan 3-0 in just 24 minutes. Then Feng Tianwei staged a fine comeback from 0-2 down against Prithika Pavade to win 3-2 and put the Singaporeans firmly in the driving seat. Finally, Yu downed Yuan 3-1 to smooth their passage.

In their last-16 match, the scintillating Chinese team of Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu and singles champion Chen Meng needed just 50 minutes in total to dispose of Austria 3-0.

They will pose a serious test for the Singaporean trio when they meet on Tuesday afternoon.

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