Chinese paddlers Sun Yingsha and Xu Xin win titles at Singapore event
Sports Scene

China's Sun Yingsha got past Japan's Mima Ito 4-3 to win in the women's singles on the final day of the Singapore stop of the T2 Diamond on Sunday.

The closely-fought contest went all the way down to the wire, before the 19-year-old edged to victory in the decider.

In the opening game, Ito was on the way to losing 11-7 when Sun won a key point with a huge smash.

The Chinese went into a 2-0 lead by winning the first two games before Ito began to mount a comeback.

China's Sun Yingsha in action during day four of T2 Diamond table tennis match in Singapore, November 24, 2019. /VCG Photo

China's Sun Yingsha in action during day four of T2 Diamond table tennis match in Singapore, November 24, 2019. /VCG Photo

She clawed her way back into the game winning the next two games to make it even-steven. Leveled at 2-2, Sun went into a 4-2 lead in the 5th when her opponent fired wide.

But the Japanese, who is also 19 years old like her rival, rallied again to level the match at 3-3. Sun then tied the decider at 4 with a powerful smash before Ito hit wide to hand over the title to Sun in an absolute thrilling final.

China's Xu Xin returns a shot during the day four of T2 Diamond table tennis match in Singapore, November 24, 2019. /VCG Photo

China's Xu Xin returns a shot during the day four of T2 Diamond table tennis match in Singapore, November 24, 2019. /VCG Photo

Meanwhile, China's Xu Xin defeated Lin Yun-ju of Chinese Taipei in straight games to win the men's singles title.

Lin, who won at the Malaysia stop, was trailing by 2 games, before tying the third at 8. But top-seeded Xu took the next three points to claim the frame 11-8 to lead 3-0. Xu gave no chance to Lin in the fourth game as he sealed a 4-0 victory claim the title.

Xu said after his triumph, "I played with happiness and enjoyed the match. I thought about my post-match speech before, and I planned to say that I would buy milk powder for my baby if I were the runner-up, and a handbag for my wife if I were the champion."

"But before the contest, our chairman posted online that Ma Long is still practicing this weekend, so I think having such excellent teammate around me working so hard, means I should not give an acceptance speech. What I should do instead, is keep training, even harder," he added.