Olympics: Singapore’s paddler Gao Ning advances, swimmer Schooling disappoints

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s Gao Ning has reached the fourth round of the table tennis singles event in London Olympics.

He beat Slovenia’s Bojan Tokic 4—0 in the third round on Monday to qualify, going one stage further than he did in the Beijing Olympics four years ago.

Gao, seeded 10, came out aggressively and very quickly took the first three games in under 20 minutes, leading 11—7, 11—7, 11—5.

But the 2011 European bronze medallist took the world number 15 to the limit in the fourth, before Gao survived game point to win it 14—12.

Gao faces an uphill battle in the next round, though, as he will likely face China’s second seed and two—time Olympic silver—medallist Wang Hao.

In the pool, Singapore’s Joseph Schooling’s Olympic debut turned out to be a disappointment.

The 17—year—old, one of the rising stars for the country, finished last in his 200—metre butterfly heats, but blamed it on a distraction.

Mr Schooling qualified for the event with his time of 1 minute, 56.67 seconds at the 2011 SEA Games.

But in London, he clocked 1 minute 59.18 seconds, and failed to make the semi—finals.

Mr Schooling attributed his poor performance to the fact that an official told him just before the race that his brand of goggles and cap were not approved.

Mr Tan Yo—Hinn, Deputy Sports Editor of TODAY, and who is in London covering the swimming competition, said: "They told ... couldn’t use it, you had to find something else, So it came (as) a shock to the teenager. It just threw him off mentally. He was left to scramble with five minutes to the biggest race of his life."

Ms Jessie Phua, Chef—de—Mission for Team Singapore at the London Olympics, told TODAY that she was very upset that this has happened. She promised that an internal investigation will be undertaken to find out exactly what happened but until then, she did not want to add anything more than that."

Ms May Schooling, mother of Joseph Schooling, said: "I am sure Joseph did his best, I can tell that he is disappointed with the race, but hopefully that will spur him on for his next event."

Channel NewsAsia received a note late Monday night from the Singapore National Olympic Council, saying that the Council has lodged an official complaint with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the IOC is taking up the issue with FINA.

— CNA/de/ir