Table Tennis: Cooke's triple medal target

ALAN COOKE, the 1989 champion, hopes both to regain his title and challenge for three medals at the Commonwealth championships starting here today, writes James Leigh from Hyderabad, India. If the Derbyshire player does win the men's singles again, he could earn two golds because England's men are serious contenders for the team event.

Cooke is also chasing success in the doubles, in which he will partner Chris Oldfield, the winner of the men's doubles in Nairobi in 1991.

However, the emigration of Chinese players around the world is making medals harder to come by. Johnny Huang, the world No 14 from Canada, is favoured to win the men's singles and the women's events are swamped by outstanding former Chinese players. These include Chai Po Wa, of Hong Kong, the women's singles title-holder; Jing Jun Hong, the world No 11, from Singapore; and Geng Lijuan, the former world No 1, from Canada.