Li represented Singapore for the third time in the Olympic Games at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing . She was the flag-bearer for Team Singapore at the opening ceremony of the Games on 8 August , having requested the honour . She explained : " There has been so much debate over the foreign talent scheme . This is my way of showing everyone that everything I 've ever achieved is because of Singapore . " At the Beijing Olympics , on 13 August 2008 , the Singapore women 's table tennis team , coached by Liu Guodong and with Li as the team captain leading teammates Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu , beat teams from the United States and Nigeria with comfortable 3 – 0 wins . On 14 August , the Singapore team also defeated the Netherlands 3 – 0 to reach the semifinals , but not before a gruelling five-game doubles match against the Dutch players Li Jie and Elena Timina which Li Jiawei and Wang Yuegu eventually won 3 – 2 . The next day , 15 August , the Singapore team defeated the South Korean team of Dang Ye-Seo , Kim Kyung-Ah and Park Mi-Young 3 – 2 in the semifinals , which went to five matches . Li lost her singles match to Korea 's Kim , but beat Kim and Park in the doubles with her partner Wang . Singapore 's Feng won both her singles matches against Dang and Park
opening ceremony
2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
Li Jiawei