STTA Player of the Year Yu Mengyu continues to be troubled by injury
She overcame a serious back injury to clinch Singapore’s only table tennis medal at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. But as Yu Mengyu accepted the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) Player of the Year award on Wednesday (27 February) for her gritty comeback last year, she revealed she is troubled again by another injury.
The 29-year-old paddler, who readily admits that she is injury-prone throughout her career, told Yahoo News Singapore that she is nursing a hip injury, and her current focus is to recuperate well for the long year of competitions ahead.
“Definitely I’m worried. We have many tournaments coming up and I need to be in my best condition to compete,” Yu said in Mandarin. “There is only one year to go before the next Olympic Games, so it is very important that I perform well in this year’s competitions to have a proper lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics.”
‘Thank you for not abandoning me’
Yu, who won a bronze medal at the Asian Games as well as two golds at last year’s Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, received her award from Chee Hong Tat, Minister of State for Education and Trade and Industry, during STTA’s annual awards night at Safra Toa Payoh.
“To my coaches, teammates and the STTA, thank you for not abandoning me when I was out injured,” she said in her short acceptance speech.
Young paddlers coming to the fore
STTA also honoured exceptional youth paddlers who had produced great results last year. The Young Player of the Year went to 16-year-old Koen Pang, who made the men’s doubles semi-finals at the Commonwealth Games despite being the youngest member of the table tennis contingent.
He also made it to the quarter-finals at the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina in October, and clinched three golds and a silver at the South-east Asia Table Tennis Championships in Bali in November.
“Ahead of making the SEA Games squad in November, I still need to improve tactically,” he said. “Mentally, I have to learn to be more stable, so I’ve been consulting sports psychologists to help me improve in this area.”
The STTA Hopes Player of the Year, awarded to the year’s top-performing paddler aged 12 and below, went to Izaac Quek, who won one gold and two bronzes at the SEA Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships in Naga City, Philippines.
Special awards for retiring stalwarts
STTA also handed out two special awards to stalwarts who retired last year. The first was Gao Ning, a three-time Olympian and multiple winner at the Commonwealth Games and SEA Games. The 36-year-old retired after last year’s Asian Games, and now serves as head coach for the national men’s team.
The previous men’s team head coach, Liu Jiayi, will be retiring in March this year, and he also received a special award for his coaching contributions since being appointed assistant coach of the national women’s team in 2004.
STTA president Ellen Lee said, “Our award recipients serve as inspirations and role models to other young aspiring athletes, and they are a source of national pride for all Singaporeans.”
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