KUALA LUMPUR: Wong Qi Shen’s red card brought an unusual end to the national men’s team gold-medal hopes at the Southeast Asia Table Tennis Championships on Thursday, but the national squads had another reason to remember the occasion.
Both the men’s and women’s teams dedicated their silver medals to their president Datuk Seri Tee Lip Sin, who died on Oct 14.
In the men’s final, Vietnam sealed a 3-1 victory over Malaysia when Qi Shen was shown a second yellow card, followed by a red card, for abusive language at 10-8 in the fourth game.
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 an earlier yellow card 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.
Malaysia pulled one back through Lee Hoang An, who beat Le Dinh Duc 11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-8.
The women’s team also finished runners-up after losing 3-1 to Singapore in the final at the Malaysia Sepak Takraw Academy here.
Tee Ai Xin gave Malaysia a strong start by beating Singapore’s Ser Lin Qian 9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9.
But Singapore’s world No. 56 Zeng Jian levelled the tie with an 11-5, 9-11, 11-3, 11-7 win over Malaysia’s world No. 152 Karen Lyne Dick.
Loy Ming Ying then edged Alice Chang 6-11, 11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6 before Zeng sealed the title by defeating Ai Xin 11-4, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9.
National coach Beh Lee Wei said Lip Sin’s 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.
“It is very sad. The president had been supporting us over the past few years, and a lot of what Malaysian table tennis has achieved today is because of his efforts,” Lee Wei said after the team finals.
“Everybody is still very sad about his passing. It has been a difficult period for all of us.”
Despite missing out on gold, Lee Wei was encouraged by the performances against higher-ranked regional opponents.
“Although we lost to Singapore, their players are ranked much higher than ours. For me, our players have already done very well,” 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.”
Lee Wei said Malaysia would continue targeting gold at next year’s SEA Games, although the team events have yet to be confirmed.
The Table Tennis Association of Malaysia is appealing for the competitions to be reinstated.
“We will still target gold at next year’s SEA Games. We know what we need to improve, and I believe we can go for it,” she added.
“We are still appealing for the team events. Hopefully, there will be good news.”