Superb. Karen Lyne (left) and Ho Ying in action during the women's semi-finals against Wales. The paddlers won.
PETALING JAYA: Experienced paddler Ho Ying turned hero as she led the women's team to the final, assuring a silver medal for Malaysia.
On Sunday, Malaysia pulled off a great comeback to beat Wales 3-2 in the semi-finals of the table tennis competition at the Commonwealth Games in Birrmingham.
They will play against Singapore, powered by China-born Zhou Zingyi, in the gold-medal match at 7pm on Monday (Aug 1).
Singapore trounced Australia 3-0 in another semi-finals.
Ho Ying and Karen Lyne got the team off to an explosive start when they defeated Anna Thomas Wu Zhang-Anna Hursey 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-5).
But Wales fought back to win the next two matches through Charlotte Carey and Hursey. Carey edged Alice Chang Li Sian 3-2 (7-11, 11-8, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7) while Hursey defeated Karen 3-1 (11-8, 11-9, 11-13, 11-9).
Then the Malaysian fightback began as Alice trounced Anna Thomas 3-0 (11-3, 13-11, 11-5) to level the score at 2-2.
And drawing strength from her years of experience, Ho Ying rose to the occasion to deliver the winning point after beating Carey 3-2 (7-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-7, 11-8) in a thrilling game.
Ho Ying was in the same team that last reached the final with coach Beh Lee Wei at the 2014 Glasgow Games. Can Ho Ying and the team guided by Lee Wei go one step better this time?
