Men and women do Hong Kong proud

The Hong Kong men's team advanced to the quarter-finals after they finished first in their group at the World Championships in Bremen, Germany, yesterday.

Hong Kong's women also had a successful day, defeating Austria 3-1 to advance to the semi-finals, where they will meet Japan. The other semi-final will be between China - 3-0 winners over North Korea - and Belarus or South Korea.

Playing their final match in group D, the SAR men, who needed the best possible result to send them to the top of the group, routed Slovakia 3-0.

Hong Kong were tied with Greece before the match, with both teams having scored three wins and one defeat. The Greeks, however, failed to clear their final hurdle when they were beaten 3-2 by Russia.

In the other three groups, pre-tournament favourites China maintained their clean sheet in group A with their fifth straight win, an easy 3-0 victory over the Italians, while South Korea in group B and Germany in group C also achieved similar victories.

The three world powerhouses joined Hong Kong in the last eight, while the eight teams who finished second and third in their respective groups must compete in a play-off to decide the remaining four quarter-final places.