Table Tennis: Cooke's triple medal target

James Leigh,India
Tuesday 25 January 1994 00:02 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

ALAN COOKE, the 1989 champion, hopes both to regain his title and challenge for three medals at the Commonwealth championships starting here today, writes James Leigh from Hyderabad, India. If the Derbyshire player does win the men's singles again, he could earn two golds because England's men are serious contenders for the team event.

Cooke is also chasing success in the doubles, in which he will partner Chris Oldfield, the winner of the men's doubles in Nairobi in 1991.

However, the emigration of Chinese players around the world is making medals harder to come by. Johnny Huang, the world No 14 from Canada, is favoured to win the men's singles and the women's events are swamped by outstanding former Chinese players. These include Chai Po Wa, of Hong Kong, the women's singles title-holder; Jing Jun Hong, the world No 11, from Singapore; and Geng Lijuan, the former world No 1, from Canada.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in