Roger Vaughn / AAP News
The Australian women’s team have powered into the final four of the Team Event after a stunning display from Jian Fang Lay.
Australia have stormed into the women’s table tennis semi-finals at the Commonwealth Games with a tough win over Canada.
The 3-0 scoreline belied a come-from-behind win in the opening doubles match that set up the quarter-final win.
Australia will most likely meet Singapore in the semis on Sunday and coach John Murphy says they will not fear their more-fancied opponents.
“We will come with our game plan and the pressure is on them,” he said.
“We’re well ready for what challenges lie ahead … we feel like real underdogs and we can put it to anybody.”
Jian Fang Lay and Minhyung Lee were two games down against Canada, who surprised the Australians with their player selection for the doubles.
But after coming back to win that crucial opener three games to two, the quarter-final opened up for Australia.
Yangzi Liu and then Lay won their singles 3-0 to secure the semi-final berth.
Earlier on Saturday, Australia closed out their group matches with a 3-0 win over the Maldives and they are yet to drop a match in the tournament.
“That was a very good performance. They were a little bit surprised with the lineup of the Canadians,” Murphy said.
“It didn’t throw us off track, but it was surprising … it was a tough doubles match.
“I was impressed with how the girls got through the match, under pressure, 2-0 down.
“That’s one they go (back) to further in the tournament, the fact they got through that tough match.”
But the men have not progressed past the group stage, despite a 3-0 win on Saturday over Mauritius.
They had a tough day on Friday, losing to Malaysia 3-1 before fighting their way to a 3-2 win over Canada.
The men finished third in their group on countback and so did not reach the quarters.
