TOKYO − Lack of experience and nervousness were the main reasons why national men's singles paddler, Chee Chaoming, was eliminated early in the Tokyo Paralympic Games.
Chaoming, who plays in the TT9 (physical disabilities) category, said the two factors had caused him to be unable to perform at his best in the competition held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium here.
"This is my first Paralympics while the opponents have had the experience of playing in this Games, including having to play against four-time Paralympic gold medallist Ma Lin from Australia and also the Rio 2016 bronze winner, Mohamed Kalem from Italy.
"I felt very sad after playing very badly in the first match and in the second match I felt I was starting to get the rhythm of the game in the second set but the feeling of nervousness and hastiness at the end of the game was my undoing," he told Bernama.
He said that the feeling he experienced caused him to go "off-tangent” and lose a lot of points after failing to deal with the service shots from the opponents in the group stage.
Three straight defeats in Group C recorded by the 24-year-old ended his chances of qualifying for the quarterfinals in his debut at the prestigious games.
Yesterday, Chaoming lost to Mohamed 6-11, 7-11, 4-11, followed by defeat to rival from Great Britain, Joshua Stacey, 6-11, 8-11, 9-11 this morning before ending his campaign in Japan with another defeat to Ma Lin, 5-11, 6-11, 7-11 in the afternoon.
The Kuala Lumpur-born athlete at the same time said his opponents, especially from Europe, had an advantage as they could compete in tournaments before going to Tokyo while he only underwent quarantine training in Bukit Jalil (in Kuala Lumpur) after last experiencing international competition in Argentina at the end of 2019.
However, the bronze winner at the 2018 Asian Para Games refuses to give up and admitted that the experience he gained here would be very useful in his journey as an athlete apart from spurring him on to try to qualify for the quarterfinals at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Born with short fingers, he said that he will also work hard in upcoming tournaments, especially to collect qualifying points for Paris 2024, and is determined to win a medal at the 2022 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, China.
Chaoming, who started playing table tennis at the age of eight, also apologised to his family, friends, and all Malaysians for his inability to go further in Japan.
Apart from winning the men's singles bronze, Chaoming was also a gold winner when he teamed up with Ting Ing Hock in the men's doubles TT4-5 event at the 2018 Asian Para Games in Indonesia.
The Tokyo Paralympic Games, which officially opened on Tuesday, ends on September 5. – Bernama, August 26, 2021
