Busy schedule takes its toll on Feng

Her nickname is "Le Le", which means "Happy" in Chinese.

It has been anything but for Singapore table tennis star Feng Tianwei in recent weeks.

She was powerless to stem the tide on Tuesday as the Chinese swept to a 3-0 victory in the women's team final at the Asian Games.

Feng, the world No 3, showed little of her usual fight when she lost the second singles 3-0 to world No 1 Guo Yan and admitted later she was just tired.

"It was especially tiring after matches like the one against Japan (on Sunday) and to win that was a great relief. At this level, it is really good to come away with a silver medal," she said.

It has been an exhausting year physically and mentally for the 24-year-old, who played a starring role when the women won a team silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Feng played a pivotal role when the team stunned the Chinese to win the World Championship in May. But her hectic schedule -Feng and the rest of the team travel regularly for overseas competitions and training stints - seems to have taken its toll.

In recent weeks, Feng has been in poor form, even going down 3-0 to Japan's world No 24 Kasumi Ishikawa at the World Team Classic in September. Earlier this month, she suffered another blow when her 83-year-old grandmother fell ill and was hospitalized.

"They (China) prepared really thoroughly against us, so maybe in this aspect we were lacking," she said. "Hopefully, in two years in London (at the Olympics) we'll do better."

- The Today (Singapore)