Table tennis: Eyes on place at top table

Olympian Karen Li, who was successful at Manchester, will head New Zealand's four-strong table tennis squad. Photo / Getty Images

Singapore are the hot favourites to dominate the women's table tennis events at the Commonwealth Games, but the New Zealand contingent go in believing they have a realistic shot of getting on the podium.

Olympian Karen Li will head New Zealand's four-strong squad, whose best chance of a medal is in the teams event.

Aucklander Li, who won a doubles and a teams medal at the 2002 Manchester Games, will be joined in India by the Christchurch trio of Yang Sun, Jenny Hung and Annie Yang, who is based in France and playing professionally in Germany.

In May, Singapore's women scored a stunning upset at the world teams championships in Moscow when they downed superpower China in a dramatic final.

They are expected to sweep the medals in the singles event at New Delhi and dominate the doubles, where each country can field two pairs.

They are also odds-on to take gold in the teams event, leaving the rest of the field to scrap for the minor placings.

Table Tennis New Zealand high performance director Murray Finch sees New Zealand as being among a group of countries in the hunt in a "wide open" race for team silver and bronze.

"Singapore are the raging favourites, but outside of them there are probably five or six teams that are competing for the other two medals," he said.

"England, Malaysia, Australia, India, Canada and we would all consider ourselves strong contenders. It's very close between all of those teams, so it's who has the best preparation and who delivers through the tournament that will get the medals."

Backing that confidence is New Zealand's result in Moscow, where they ended fourth among the Commonwealth nations.

Finch is also optimistic about the women's doubles, where Li and Yang were pipped 3-2 by Australian opposition in the bronze medal match in Melbourne four years ago.

While the doubles pairings are yet to be confirmed, Li and Yang, a right-handed left-handed combination, are expected to link up again. The table tennis tournament lasts the duration of the New Delhi competition schedule, which runs from October 4 to 14.

The New Zealanders - with Li's sister, four-time Olympian Li Chunli, as coach - put the finishing touches to their preparation in China ahead of their arrival in India. "It's the most powerful table tennis country in the world, particularly in the women's game, which they dominate in terms of style and content," Finch said.

"If you're playing well against the top provincial Chinese, you're going to do well at the Commonwealth Games."

New Zealand will not be represented in the men's events because of a failure to meet the New Zealand Olympic Committee's qualifying standards, a situation Finch described as a huge disappointment.

"We've had a number of retirements over the past two or three years and it will take a while to rebuild," he said.

"We have a number of promising juniors coming up but the jump from international junior to international senior table tennis takes a lot longer than people think, so it's a patience game."

- NZPA