SINGAPORE : Buoyed by the cheers of a 500-strong crowd - including 200 schoolmates from the Singapore Sports School - the Republic's table tennis team of Clarence Chew, Tay Jit Kiat, Isabelle Li and Chau Haiqing went through to the semi-finals in the mixed team event at the inaugural Asian Youth Games on Friday.

Clarence and Isabelle combined to dispatch fifth seeded India 3-0 in the morning, but unfortunately, the hosts met the world's leading table tennis nation China in the last four.

The top seeds posted a clinical 2-0 win over Singapore who, along with Taiwan, collected bronze as the rules stipulated no play-off for third place.

While China battle North Korea in Sunday's final, the big task for the Singapore team will be preparing for next year's Youth Olympic Games, which will be held here from Aug 14-26.

Coach Xu Xiangdong believes the team is in good shape.

"Over the past two days, I've been happy with their mental development and they're doing very well," he said. "Especially with them playing such a big competition on home soil, there's definitely pressure, but they've dealt with it well.

"This will help the team in the Youth Olympics, as it gives them big-match experience. It's good training for them, and will help in their development as players." - TODAY