Team Singapore clinched their first medal of the WTT Youth Contender Bangkok II on Thursday, 11 September, as the U15 Mixed Doubles pair of Benaiah Seah and Janelle Chiang reached the semi finals of the event at Fashion Island.

Seah and Chiang, both 14, who are part of the Singapore table tennis team for the upcoming Asian Youth Games in Bahrain in October, lost 3-0 to the Chinese Taipei pair of Hsu An-Pao and Chen Chih Yen, 10-12, 5-11, 5-11 in the semi finals to share the bronze with another pair from Chinese Taipei, Chen Jie Ning and Yen Pei En.

Their road to the semifinal included a bye in the Round of 64, before beating the Singapore-Vietnam pair of Tristen Yee and Phan Thanh Truc 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-6) in the Round of 32.

They then silenced the home crowd by defeating Napop Daraneerut and Jitnada Unjit of Thailand, coming from behind to win 3-1 (11-13, 11-4, 11-9, 11-7) in the Round of 16 to seal their place in the quarterfinals, where they had to come from behind once again to oust the Swedish pair of Albin Ingestrom and Angelina Bebawy in a 3-2 thriller, winning 11-6, 8-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-9.

Singapore’s other U15 Mixed Doubles pair of Benjamin Lau and Chong Zi Sian were defeated in the Round of 32 by Fang Bing Wei and Lu Han Jui of Chinese Taipei, going down by a score of 3-1 (7-11, 11-9, 7-11, 5-11).

Chong also punched above her weight in the U17 Girls Singles event, as she reached the quarter finals, where she lost to yet another Chinese Taipei player, Chen Chi-Yun in straight sets, 8-11, 10-12, 7-11.

Lau and Chong, along with Yee are also part of the Singapore Asian Youth Games team, who are using the Youth Contenders Bangkok and San Francisco as tune up for the October games. The final member of the Girls team, Loy Ming Ying, is with the senior team at the WTT Feeders Istanbul and Cappadocia.