Multi-faceted Singapore Smash Thrills and Delights Players and Public
Players from the Singapore Table Tennis Association’s Junior Development and Youth Development watching Lee Sangsu (KOR) rallying with Xiang Peng (CHN) at the Singapore Smash 2023 practice hall at the Singapore Sports Hub’s OCBC Arena. Photo credit: World Table Tennis
The Singapore Smash 2023 is underway with table tennis’ best athletes delivering a spectacular show, thrilling upsets and multiple young talents triumphing in the spotlight. The drama on the Infinity Arena has also captivated audience around the world with a cumulative global audience of 48.3 million and a cumulative reach of 150.5 million viewers tuning in for the daily matches so far.
While the inaugural Singapore Smash took place last year, it was held amid limitations due to guidelines put in place to manage the situation around the pandemic. This year, with all restrictions lifted, the Singapore Sports Hub has come alive with all intended programming in place so as to allow fans and players to enjoy the true essence of a Smash event.
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A Hopes Squad participant escorting men’s singles defending champion Fan Zhendong (CHN) onto the Infinity ∞ Arena at Singapore Smash 2023.
This year, Singapore Smash is also playing host to the Hopes Squad, a development programme run by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The Hopes Squad is made up of a team of 20 aspiring male and female players (ages 10 – 13) whom have demonstrated consistent commitment to training and competition. As part of the development pathway, the players and their coaches are offered planned activities throughout the year, with the first event of 2023 being an intensive training camp held at the Singapore Sports School from 9 – 15 March.
In addition to the training camp, Squad members also got the chance to experience the behind-the-scenes mechanics of the Singapore Smash, giving them an exclusive peek into the different aspects of a world-class table tennis event. They also got to interact with their sporting idols and walk out onto the legendary Infinity ∞ Arena as player escorts with the best table tennis players in the world. An additional four slots were also given to Singapore athletes Loy Ming Ying, Chanelle Chiang, Tristan Yee and Benaiah Seah, allowing them to enjoy the benefits of Singapore hosting the event.
Men’s world No. 7 Truls Moregard (SWE), competing in the Singapore Smash this week, is a Hopes Squad alumnus, along with Singapore’s Izaac Quek, who has made an astonishing run to the men’s singles Round of 16. Other notable alumni include world number 14 Adriana Diaz (PUR), talented 15-year-old Hana Goda (EGY) and Singapore’s Zhou Jingyi, who was part of the gold-winning women’s team at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
For Moregard, it has been 10 years since his participation in the Hopes Program, but the 21-year-old still has fond memories of his experience. He said: “I remember it was very fun; it was also difficult for me because it was in English at a very young age and you really need to open up to be in the group. But it’s super fun, you meet a lot of personalities and make a lot of new friends. I still have a lot of friends from the Hopes Program, we were very young and we still continue to be friends now. So of course it helps you in your table tennis journey, both in your table tennis career and also to meet people and feel at home when you travel to tournaments. The biggest takeaway for me was that it developed my table tennis game. It was 10 years ago, but I remember it was very fun.”
Other than taking part in the year-long programme, Hopes players will also have to demonstrate consistent commitment to training and competition and their performance will be monitored throughout the year. Upon conclusion of all follow-up activities, ITTF High Performance will then announce the selection of 4 girls and 4 boys to the Hopes Team, providing them with further opportunities along the Hopes pathway.
A Hopes alumnus with more recent memories is teenager Hana Goda, who won the ITTFAfrica Cup in May 2022 to become the youngest-ever Continental Cup winner at 14 years and 167 days old. The 15-year-old is playing in the biggest event of her fledgling career here at Singapore Smash, and she recalled finishing second in her first year and winning the title the next year. She said: “If it hadn’t been for Hopes, I think my table tennis journey would have been different but it was a really nice start and I learned a lot from it. Getting to know the other players was a highlight – we had a really good bond and are still talking now; we became good friends.”
The participants of this year’s Hopes Squad are not the only young players who got to watch table tennis’ stars up close. This week, players from the Singapore Table Tennis Association’s Junior Development and Youth Development squads were guided by 2021 world youth champion and world No. 31 Xiang Peng (CHN) and world No. 26 Lee Sangsu (KOR) during a clinic at the OCBC Arena. About 60 children visited Hall 2, one of the Singapore Smash competition halls, as well as the practice hall, where they caught a glimpse of the sport’s finest athletes honing their craft. There, they performed drills and rallied with both players.