

Feng Tianwei, Singapore’s most bemedalled Olympian, has been dropped from the national table tennis team as part of a revamp ahead of the 2020 Olympics Games in Tokyo.



The China-born player, who has won a silver medal and two bronze medals over three Olympic Games, was deemed as being unsuitable for the Singapore Table Tennis Association’s (STTA) plans to rejuvenate the sport.



In a statement on Tuesday (25 October), STTA noted that Feng, a member of the national team since 2007, will be 34 years old by the next Olympics in Tokyo.



STTA President Ellen Lee paid tribute to Feng for her contributions to the country, “We would like to thank her for all that she has done for Singapore table tennis, and we would like to take this opportunity to wish Tianwei all the best in her future endeavours.”



As part of STTA’s plans, Gao Ning, 34, will be assuming a new role as the men’s team’s assistant coach cum player and understudy current national men’s coach Liu Jiayi.



Gao will mentor and train the younger generation of players from the national team and intermediate squad. He is expected to retire as a player after the Asian Games 2018.



Clarence Chew, who is currently training and studying, has been targeted by STTA as a potential qualifier for the 2020 Olympics. STTA will also focus on the development of Chen Feng in the men’s team.



Among the new generation of female players, Zhou Yihan, Lin Ye and Zeng Jian will be able to lead the team through the next two Olympic Games, STTA said. This will give STTA between four and eight years to groom the next generation of players.



The revamp by STTA came two months after the national table tennis teams returned home from the Rio Olympics without a medal.



































STTA’s moves also followed a day after it announced the sacking of Li Hu from the men’s team due to repeated misconduct.







