Brunei's Leonardo Koh (L) in action during his Under-18 boys' singles match of the 20th South East Asian Junior (SEA JR) Table Tennis Championship yesterday. Koh lost 3-0 to Chua Tzong Lin of Malaysia. BT/ Zul Zainal
Brunei paddlers continued to struggle at the 20th South East Asian Junior (SEA JR) Table Tennis Championship, losing all 12 of their singles matches yesterday.
They were defeated 3-0 in all of their matches - nine times in the Under-15 boys category, twice in their U-15 girls followed by a loss in their only U-18 boys match. Leonardo Koh put up a good performance in his U-18 boys match but still could not beat Chua Tzong Lin of Malaysia at the Indoor Stadium of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex.
Leonardo's backhand constantly troubled his opponent but it just wasn't enought to give him a chance at victory. Abd Wafi Suhardi was defeated by Jann Mari Nayre from Philippines and by Pattaratorn Passara from Thailand in his second match, while Jason Koh lost to Jann's teammate John Micheal Castro.
Jason then lost his second match to Marcello of Indonesia and his third match to Panagitgun Yanapong of Thailand, whereas Malaysia's Lam Chee Yin and Singapore's Lucas Tan made short work of Luqman Hii. Young hopeful Ak Abd Basheer also struggled, losing to Poh Shao Feng of Singapore and Phonepaseud Olyavong of Thailand.
The situation didn't improve in the U-15 girls matches as Fiona Hii was overwhelmed by Linda Zeng Ziyue from Singapore and Hong Hui Hin was knocked out by Amanda Wong from Malaysia. The morning session of the competition saw Thailand win the finals for the U-18 mixed doubles and U-15 girls doubles.
They beat Singapore 3-2 in both matches. Malaysia claimed the U-15 boys doubles title after putting down Vietnam 3-2. Today's action will see the singles event for all four of the categories.
