Nerveless Chu on brink of Cup glory
Hong Kong housewife Grace Chu is on the brink of title glory in the women's singles championship at the World Cup after battling through to the final at Sports Road yesterday.
The 47-year-old Chu (nee Chiang) played out of her skin against one of Australia's bright young hopes to earn the right to meet Fiji's Litia Tikoisuva for the title this afternoon.
Chu couldn't have been happier with her performance as she ended the hopes of Claire Duke - 26 years Chu's junior - with a 10-2, 2-13, 2-1 (three-end tiebreaker) victory on the indoor rinks at Hong Kong Football Club.
'I am very happy to have won my semi-final match. I felt I was quite lucky to have won,' said Chu. 'Sometimes, you do need a bit of luck to win. Claire played very well but I had the edge in the tiebreaker and a very good start,' added last year's Hong Kong national indoor singles champion.
'Overall, my performance was OK, but I felt nervous today. I hope I won't feel so nervous tomorrow when I play the final. It's a great result for me,' she said.
Duke, who was last year's Australian indoor champion, was disappointed with her performance. She said she had a bad start and failed to match Chu's consistency in the end.
'I have been a full-time player for the past two years. I would like to play a bit better,' said 21-year-old Duke. 'Playing indoor may be kind of different from the outdoor but it should not be hard for me to adjust. But I think I took too long to adjust to the rink.'
Chu receives a stern test today as she challenges Tikoisuva, who stayed unbeaten in the tournament after defeating New Zealand's Lisa Dickson 6-6, 10-5 in the other semi.
Apart from Chu's success, Hong Kong also have another chance of glory in men's singles after Terence Lee won his quarter-final against Malaysian hope, Syed Mohammed Syed Akil, 2-1 in sets.
Lee takes on Spaniard Nicolas Cole in this afternoon's semi-final, while Israel's Jeff Rabkin plays Australian Mark Casey.
Lee was delighted to have reached the semi-finals, saying he had only hoped to reach the last eight having finished runner-up to local champion Noel Kennedy in last year's Hong Kong National Indoor Championships.
'I'm pretty excited with the win. It's a breakthrough for me because I didn't expect this kind of result,' said Lee. '[Syed] is a very strong player and is considered one of the best in Asia, so to beat him is very gratifying. The rink I played on was a tricky rink. It was undulating and it affected both of us,' he said.
