With the support of an amazing crowd and a coach that never gives up, the Australian men’s team has secured a spot in the table tennis doubles minor finals at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival.

Australia’s Kyle Davis and Robert Frank will meet Chinese Taipei’s Hung-Chieh Chiang and Chien-An Chen tomorrow to play for the bronze medal.

“We’re really excited about it,” 17-year-old Davis said. “The support of the crowd was amazing and it has been a fantastic experience for us. It’d be great to take the medal in front of our home crowd.”

In today’s match, the Aussie boys leapt to an early lead in the first round, eliminating Hong Kong 3-2 with clever footwork and a consistent game.

They went on to meet second seed Great Britain in a nail-biting, forty-minute-long game which kept a nervous crowd on the edge of their seats.

The Australians were unable to win the match, eventually going down 3-1. Great Britain will meet China in the final on Day 5.

In the women’s competition, Chinese girls Meng Chen and Chenxi Shu beat New Zealand’s Chi Wen Hung and Wei Shu 3-0 in a spectacular crowd-pleaser to secure a spot in the final.

They will play Hong Kong’s Ho Ching Lee and Wing Nam Ng, who were victorious over Chinese Taipei 3-2. The Australian girls enjoyed tremendous support from the large crowd but were knocked out early, going down 3-0 in the quarter finals to Hong Kong.

Both the singles and doubles finals will be held tomorrow at Sydney Olympic Park. Admission is free.

Bridget Jenkins
AYOF