New Zealand are out of the Commonwealth Games women's team table tennis competition after a tense 2-3 loss to Canada this morning.
New Zealand had to upset the highly rated Canadians to reach the semifinals as one of the top two qualifiers from their pool.
It was not to be.
Nor did New Zealand do enough to secure a place as one of the two best losers out of the three pools - those slots went to England and Wales.
With the tie locked at 2-2, Black Bat Annie Yang was unable to deliver the upset, losing 4-11, 9-11, 5-11 to Canadian No 1 Hong Guang Xu in the final rubber.
Karen Li won twice; downing Xu 11-5, 11-6, 11-4 then levelling the tie 2-2 with a nailbiting 11-5, 8-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6 win over Mo Zhang.
Yang had lost to Zhang 6-11, 11-8, 10-12, 11-4, 3-11, after holding two set points in the third. Jenny Hung, 14, went down 4-11, 12-10, 8-11, 8-11 to Canadian No 3 Sara Yuen.
Li told NZPA the team had felt the pressure of fighting for a quarterfinal slot "but we did quite well".
She had lost the last time she played Xu, she said.
