16 Aug 2008
BEIJING, August 16) -- Singapore's success against the Republic of Korea in a titanic semifinal struggle that went the maximum five matches, guarantees the tiny city state its first Olympic medal in almost 50 years and will undoubtedly make their lead player, Chinese born Li Jia Wei, the toast of the town.Li is already a hero in Singapore after her fourth place finish at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. If that achievement brought her celebrity status, the team's guaranteed silver must surely have the paddlers looking forward to the feting they will receive on their return.
The players cannot be looking too far ahead, as they still have work to do in Beijing. It would likely be the biggest upset of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games if the Singaporeans were to snatch gold from the Chinese team which is made up of the top three women players in the world rankings.
The Women's Team gold medal contest takes place on Sunday August 17.
"I feel very honored to get an Olympic medal for Singapore after 48 years of waiting", said Li Jia Wei. "We will give 100 per cent effort against China in the final but it doesn't matter whether we win or lose; for us it's already a victory, we have achieved our goal and in the final we will be under no pressure."
The Team silver, or gold, will be Singapore's first Olympic medal since 1960 when Tan Howe-liang won weightlifting silver in Rome.
Li is one of more than a dozen Table Tennis paddlers who are competing for countries in which they were not born. She is a Beijinger who moved to Singapore in the hope of competing internationally after failing to secure a place on the Chinese national team.
At the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games eight of the 16 men's teams have at least one player not born in the country. The rate is even higher among women's teams, where 12 of 16 teams are fielding athletes who are naturalized citizens.
Earlier this year the International Table Tennis Federation passed a new 'nationality' ruling for world title events, which has yet to be adopted by the International Olympic Committee.
The ITTF ruling requires players under the age of 15 to wait three years before being eligible to compete for their new country; players between 15 and 18 years of age must wait five years and players aged 16 years to 21 years must wait seven years. Players over the age of 21 at the time they emigrate will not be allowed to register to play for the adopted countries.
The new rule is being 'grandfathered' in, so it will not affect players like Li who are currently registered to play for their new country. However, as these athletes retire, and if the IOC adopts the nationality rule for the London 2012 Olympics Games, the composition and the fortunes of many countries' teams could change dramatically.
http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/sports/headlines/tabletennis/n214551146.shtml
