While Singapore table tennis player Yu Mengyu did not manage to win a medal, her soaring journey to the women’s table tennis semi-finals, beating world No. 10 Kasumi Ishikawa in the process, had the nation cheering her on.
Yu, ranked 47th, lost to China’s top-ranked paddler Chen Meng in the semi-finals on Thursday (July 29), in a tense fight that saw her clutching her left thigh and requiring medical attention during the fourth game.
She reached the last eight of this event at the 2016 Rio Games, where she made her Olympic debut. The only Singaporean to clinch an individual table tennis medal is her teammate Feng Tianwei, who took home a bronze in the 2012 London edition.
With Singapore still in awe of her journey, here are some facts about the table tennis player.