Paddlers turn gloom into a silver tribute for late president

One for the album: Malaysia’s team posing with their medals and trophies.— MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI/The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Wong Qi Shen’s red card brought an unusual end to Malaysia’s hopes of winning the men’s team gold medal at the South-East Asia Table Tennis Championships.

There was, however, some consolation.

Both the national men’s and women’s teams still had reason to celebrate as they dedicated their silver medals to their late president Datuk Seri Tee Lip Sin, who passed away last month.

In the men’s team final played in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, Vietnam sealed a 3-1 victory over Malaysia when Qi Shen was shown a second yellow card for abusive language while trailing 8-10 in the fourth game.

Wong Qi Shen in action during the match.

That resulted in the referee flashing the red card, a rare occurrence in table tennis.

The penalty point handed victory to Vietnam’s Dinh Anh Hoang, who won 6-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-8. Qi Shen had received a yellow card earlier after throwing his water bottle into the towel bin.

Vietnam had taken the opening two matches through Dinh Anh Hoang and Nguyen Anh Tu, who defeated Javen Choong and Wong Qi Shen respectively, before Malaysia pulled one back through Lee Hong An.

The women’s team also finished runners-up after they were beaten 1-3 by Singapore in the final.

In the women’s final, Tee Ai Xin gave Malaysia a strong start by beating Singapore’s Ser Lin Qian 9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9 before all others – Karen Lyne Dick, Alice Chang and Ai Xin – fell in their subsequent matches respectively.

National coach Beh Lee Wei said Lip Sin’s sudden passing had deeply affected players and officials, who were still coming to terms with losing a leader who had helped shape the sport’s local development since he came on board in 2020.

“It is very sad. The president had been supporting us over the past few years and a lot of what Malaysian table tennis have achieved today is because of his tireless efforts,” said Lee Wei.

“Everybody is still very sad about his passing. It has been a difficult period for all of us,” said the former national No. 1.

Despite missing out on gold, Lee Wei was encouraged by the performances against higher-ranked regional opponents.

Malaysia overcame Indonesia 3-1 in the respective men’s and women’s team semi-finals on Wednesday.

“Although we lost to Singapore, their women players are ranked much higher than ours.

“For me, our players have already done very well to step into the final,” she said.

“For the men’s team, we used a very young player in the third singles and he performed very well. This is the improvement I can see in the Malaysian team.”

The players will switch focus to the individual events after this.