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Melbourne 2006: Wales Men March Into Semi-finals

18th March, 2006

The whole competition was still buzzing today at the Welsh win over the Manchester team gold medalists England and the match is regarded by all as the best yet seen in the Games.

The men duly sealed their quarter-final berth as pool C winners with a solid 3-1 win over Pakistan in their final group match.

The Pakistan team proved tricky opponents but two wins from Ryan Jenkins and one from Adam Robertson saw Wales safely through.

As pool winners Wales were seeded in the quarter final draw and pulled Malaysia out of the hat as their quarter-final opponents.

Ryan Jenkins went 0-2 down against Chan but showed immense character by coming back to win 3-2 to give Wales a great start. Adam Robertson then beat Shakarin 3-1. Stephen lost 0-3 to Kho but Adam came back to the table to destroy Chan 11-4 11-3 11-4 & send Wales through to a meeting with favourites Singapore tomorrow. The match should be commencing around 7.30 am Sunday morning UK time & hopefully may be on the box!

To reach the last 4 in a team competition at this level is a historic achievement and whatever happens from here it has already been a great Commonwealth Games for Welsh table tennis

Wales Ladies reach quarters

Wales Ladies lost to a very strong Malaysia team in their last group match but after some anxious mathematics pipped England for the final quarter final spot on count back - thus guaranteeing at least a top 8 finish whilst England will play for places probably 9-12 at best. This is a superb achievement bearing in mind the strength of the event and the fact we have a junior (Naomi Owen) in the team.

In the quarter final we were unlucky to draw the odds-on favourites Singapore. Our Ladies played extremely well but went down to an expected 0-3 loss. It is highly unlikely that any team here at the Games will trouble Singapore's quest for the title.

The ladies now play classification matches tomorrow for places 5-8 but come what just like the men they have done us all proud.

The Team finals are on Monday. On Tuesday the singles start and the doubles and mixed doubles start on Wednesday, as do the EAD ladies singles.