Table tennis: Clarence Chew wins first match at Olympics, progresses to next round

TOKYO: As Singapore’s Clarence Chew fell to his knees to celebrate a memorable win at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, a sense of relief washed over the Olympic Games debutant. 

In a topsy-turvy fixture against a higher-ranked opponent, Chew, 25, was stretched all the way en route to victory.

He progressed to the second round of the men’s singles at the Tokyo Olympics after upsetting Senegal’s Ibrahima Diaw 4-2.

“The last two sets were very close,” Chew told reporters.

“I was having a lot of difficulties because my opponent made quite a few changes which I had to adapt (to) so I think it was very crucial that I had to win those two sets. So (it is) more of a sense of elation and relief.”

Up against an opponent ranked more than 100 places above him, Chew, who is ranked 186th in the world, took the first game 11-4.

However, an error-strewn second game saw Chew throw away his advantage as he lost 4-11.

But Chew seized the initiative in the third and stormed to a commanding 9-2 lead. He then wrapped up that game 11-3.

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While Chew led early on in the fourth game, his opponent kept pegging him back, and eventually levelled at 6-6. While Diaw stretched the game to 11-11, Chew stayed cool to win it 13-11.

But Diaw refused to give up and took the fourth game 11-3. And he looked to have stretched the match all the way, only for Chew to level at 10-10 in the fifth game. 

And two consecutive mistakes from his opponent meant Chew progressed to the next round.

“It was a tough match. My opponent Diaw, I think is a very strong player, of course, was much higher ranked than me,” said the Singaporean.

“Going into the game, I felt less pressure - I just wanted to stick to my game plan, to get into the match rhythm as soon as possible and just be more aggressive and play without any fear.”

Chew will next face Austria’s world number 44 Daniel Habesohn on Sunday when he will attempt to overcome the odds for the second day running.

“It's been a long journey just to qualify for these Games and even with everything that's going on around the world, I think, really we're just very grateful and honoured to be able to compete now,” said Chew.

“I just want to make full use of this opportunity to enjoy myself and I’m just really grateful I can put on a good performance at the Olympics.”​​​​​​​

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