Singapore table tennis player Wang Yuegu retires

Source:Xinhua Published: 2012-8-30 13:41:08

Singapore's table tennis player Wang Yuegu has retired, local daily Straits Times reported on Thursday.

Wang, 32, has been a member of the trio of the women's team that has won numerous international titles, including a women's team silver at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and a bronze at the London Games earlier this month.

Like her teammates Feng Tianwei and Li Jiawei, Wang grew up in China. Together they beat the powerful Chinese national team 3-1 in Moscow in 2010 to win the world championship.

Wang said she had decided to hang up her bat in January when she picked up a serious elbow injury, but has persevered to stay around.

"Nobody retires before the Olympics, it's what we train for. I told myself to persevere until London," she was quoted as saying from Beijing in a phone interview.

"It's the right time to leave. I'm getting old, I've been injured, and I've a family now. It's time to give our youth paddlers a chance," Wang said.

The Singapore women's team was at the center of a debate, too, recently as some of the Singaporeans said they were not proud of a world champion who did not grow up in Singapore.

"I didn't come here for money but for the love of the sport. I hate it when people keep associating medals with money," she said. "I can't change their minds. But not everyone that comes from China hangs around for money."

Wang said table tennis will continue to be close to her heart, but she is ready for change as she would now be able to spend more time with her family.

"No matter where life takes me, I'll always return to Singapore. I want my first child to be born here, too," said Wang, who became a Singaporean citizen in 2007.

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