#Lee Xin Ni still top ranked U-13 paddler
Lee Xin Ni, Malaysiaâs up and coming table tennis player continues her dominance as the countryâs number one ranked U-13 paddler after winning three gold medals at the recently concluded 32nd Malaysia Hopes Table Tennis Championship 2019 at the Dewan Besar SJKC Sempalit in Raub, Pahang.
Lee Xin Ni has been selected by International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) to be a member for the 2019 World Hopes Team since 14 August, 2019. This is her 2nd year holding to her U13 ranked number one spot in Malaysia.
In the tournament, Xin Ni won gold in the U-13 Girls Single event beating Low Xu Yuan with a score of 4-1. She also won gold in the U-13 Girls Double event partnering Hun Hui Qi winning over Josie Wong Min Le and Wan Chiau Huey (3-0). Xin Ni concluded the tournament with her third gold after leading Team Selangor to victory over Team Sarawak (3-0) in the U-13 Team event. The bronze winners were Team Pulau Pinang and Team Kuala Lumpur.
In the U-13 Boys Single event, Caleb Hong Zi An is now ranked number one after defeating Lee Zhen Wei (4-0) in the final. Quek Seng Yen and Pang Xiang Jun were joint bronze winners.
All was not lost for Quek Seng Yen when he took home gold in the U-13 Boys Double event partnering Lee Zhen Wei. The pair defeated Caleb Hong Zi An/Yew Yan Bin (3-0). Joint bronze winners were Ho Wei Yang/Chuang Kuan Chien and Lai Yong Han/Yun Yong Yang.
The U-13 Boys Team Event was won by Team Melaka after beating Team Perlis (3-2). Bronze winners were Team Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
The tournament also saw a hard fought win by Team Selangor who took the Overall Championship Trophy winning Gold in five categories, three of which were contributed by Lee Xin Ni: Girls Team U-13, Girls Single U-13, Girls Doubles U-13, Girls Team U-10 and Boys Doubles U-13. The overall championship title earned the Selangor team the Overall Championship Trophy.
Closing in from behind was Team Kuala Lumpur who won Gold in four categories: Girls Single U-10, Boys Single U-10, Boys Team U-10 and Boys Single U-13.
There were a total of 12 categories in the tournament, six categories in the Boys (U-13 team, doubles and singles and U-10 team, singles and doubles) and six categories in the Girls (U-13 team, doubles and singles and U-10 team, singles and doubles).
The tournament is aimed at identifying talents that can be groomed further for international tournaments. It is part of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Hopes Programme conducted globally. Hopes Programme is a series of events at national, regional and world level, featuring education, training camps, competition and talent identification.
Organized by the Pahang Table Tennis Association, the 32nd edition of the annual tournament, held from 27 November to 1 December, 2019, drew a total of 310 participants from 13 states and 3 Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan.
âThis yearâs tournament drew the most number of participants to date. It is always good to see young talents demonstrating their skills. Overall, we are pleased with what we see as the bar has certainly been raised. We have identified a few potential talents at this tournament and we will look into sharpening their skills further as our intent is have good succession plan for team Malaysia,â said Dr. Chin, Vice President, Table Tennis Association Malaysia (TTAM).
âFrom here on, these young players will grow to be cadet and junior players and we hope they will one day make our country proud,â he added.
