Ozzie table tennis veteran slams Sinkieland for importing PRC players for medals

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Aus table tennis vet slams Singapore

By Alexandra Patrikios | AAP – Sat, Aug 2, 2014 6:56 AM SGT

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  Getty Images/Getty Images - GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - JULY 28: Clarence Chew, Ning Gao, Hu Li, Zi Yang, and Jian Zhan of Team Singapore sing the national anthem with their Gold Medals after winning the Gold Medal …more

Australian table tennis veteran William Henzell has hit out at the Singapore team, claiming they tarnish the spirit of the event by stacking their squad with Chinese players.

The 32-year-old lost 15-7 11-6 9-11 11-7 11-6 to Singapore's Ning Gao in his quarter-final match on Friday.
Chinese-born Gao was the top seed in the men's singles draw and already had a gold medal from Singapore's triumph in the men's team event.

But Henzell said Singapore had brought a "professional team" to Glasgow that was largely made up of Chinese-born players.

"I don't think what Singapore does is in the spirit of the Games," Henzell said.

"It's disappointing to see."

He said Singapore only had two "token" Singaporeans in their team - Clarence Chew and Isabelle Li - while the rest were Chinese-born.

"They decided it was much easier and quicker to buy a team rather than produce a team," he said.

While noting the large number of Chinese-born players on the Singaporean side, Australian coach Jens Lang said naturalised players were within their rights to compete for countries after they had immigrated.

He said in some cases Australia's Glasgow squad had benefited from foreign-trained players deciding to join the national team.

"Our big goal ... (is) to set up structures so we are capable of producing internationally successful players ourselves," he said.

"(But) we have some players in our team who are not the product of the Australian system."

"They are Aussies as much as anybody else."

A spokesperson for the Singaporean table tennis team declined to comment.

In Australia's other match for the day, 42-year-old Jian Fang Lay was defeated by Singapore's Ye Lin in straight games.

While disappointed at the loss, Lay said she was looking forward to her women's doubles semi-final alongside Miao Miao on Saturday.

The Australian pair will meet Canada's Mo Zhang and Anqi Luo.

Singapore took home two more gold medals from the day's games, with Ning Gao and Hu Li claiming the men's doubles and Tianwei Feng defeating compatriot Mengyu Yu in the women's singles.





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