7:05PM - Match Preview
Today we have this rather important match against China, which will either secure a gold or silver medal for us. I used “rather” because i felt that the most important match has already gone past, which was the semi-final match against South Korea. Which we emerged the victor.
For an extra bit of news, across the Causeway, we see Malaysia who will have a medal match too against China, in another sports badminton, Lin Dan from China VS Chong Wei from Malaysia. I wish good luck to our neighbour across the causeway.
Today match up, we see Li Jiawei, Wang Yuegu and Feng Tianwei from Singapore up against Zhang Yining, Guo Yue and Wang Nan from China.

Li Jiawei leading the Singapore Team

Singapore’s main aim was to strive for a medal this Olympics, and we have reached our aim. A win or lose will still bring joy to everyone, however, as many Singaporeans will be watching,(even the Prime Minister Speech was delayed by himself) they will be under immense pressure. Pressure from the fact they should not bow out easily and give at least a tough fight. A Gold medal will be nice, but is not really essential. We will probably see a more conservative play from Singapore team, grabbing as much points as they can. However, as much as i would like the first Olympics Gold medal for Singapore to be won rather than a second Olympics Silver, It’s going to be hard.

Zhang Yining leading the China team

China is a powerhouse in Ping Pong. Dominating the whole Olympics beating their opponents all in less than an hour, it shows that they mean business. While Singapore team is through to the finals, it is not without sweat and tears as they scrape through with grueling matches, like the one with Korea that last about 3 1/2 hours and the only match that they did under an hour was against Nigeria. Another fact that is against Singapore is that the Chinese team are filled with higher ranking players, with the lowest ranked world no.5 Wang Nan in the team. This is just one notch above Li Jiawei, who is ranked no.6. But with the world no.1 player Zhang Yining, life’s after 7:30PM gonna be a hard time for SIngapore. I have personally seen Zhang Yining play against Li Jiawei on TV, and Li Jiawei was left fumbling throughout the match. A interesting fact between them, Li Jiawei has not won against Zhang Yining for all their meetings, if they are matched up today, a win will surely be another personal record for Li Jiawei.
7:30PM is coming, and i’ll be watching.

Post will be updated after each match.

Wow, the crowd is really getting into the match, such loud cheers.

7:30PM 1st Match - Wang Nan VS Feng Tianwei
Wang Nan 9-11 11-3 11-8 11-6 Feng Tianwei
While Feng Tianwei shows her standard expression of no expression, inside her she would know that, there is a stark difference in skills. While the whole match was aggressively played, it was a match that depends on who made the most mistakes. While Feng loses her cool and shakes her head, the one with skill do not make as much mistakes, and it’s Wang Nan.

8.08PM 2nd Match - Li Jiawei VS Zhang Yining
Zhang Yining 9-11 11-3 11-4 11-7 Li Jiawei
Li Jiawei looks to be in top form today, she got the first set through really impressive play by her. Probably the first time i have seen Li Jiawei with so much expression too. Zhang Yining meanwhile, is gaining on her aggression through the sets, overwhelming Li Jiawei with her sudden change of direction of the ping pong ball and her fast strikes. It will probably takes more than form to beat the world no.1. Nevertheless, i think this will be the best match of the final.

8.46PM 3rd Match - Wang Nan & Zhang Yining VS Li Jiawei & Feng Tianwei
Guo Yue & Zhang Yining 11-8 11-5 11-6 Li Jiawei & Wang Yuegu
Fastest match to be finished, we see Li Jiawei still on top form and Wang Yuegu was playing her usual. Outclassed and outwitted by their chinese counterparts, the China duo isn’t letting anything go to chance. The Singaporean duo made good attempts and it’s not that disappointing, judging from how they are playing against the world’s best.

So the only competition wasn’t on the court, and it’s happening in the grand stand too. China’s crowd VS Singapore’s crowd. But it was a friendly competition. While China was shouting “China sure win! Singapore keep it up!”, Singapore’s crowd was shouting “Singapore keep it up!”.

Anyway, it ended with everyone happy, so it was a good competition.

While one articles in the Strait Times today says “China is on cloud nine, Singapore is on seventh heaven“, it’s looking to remain that way, at least in the Beijing Olympics 2008.

Catch more Olympics actions later. =)