Hong Kong table tennis had two reasons to smile yesterday as both the men's and women's doubles pairs reached their respective finals.
Tie Yana and Zhang Rui, seeded second in the women's competition, advanced to the gold medal match after they defeated Wang Nan and Chen Qing of China 4-2 in the semi-finals.
In the men's event, Athens Olympics silver medallists Li Ching and Ko Lai-chak also made it into the final with an upset 4-2 win over Ma Long and Wang Hao, the second-seeded duo from China.
Tie and Zhang were due to take on top seeds Li Xiaoxia and Guo Yue of China last night, while Li and Ko were looking to beat another top-seeded pair from the mainland, Chen Qi and Ma Lin, also overnight.
Tie, the Hong Kong number one, said that after the defeat to Singapore in the team event, the pressure had eased off and they were now playing better in the individual competition.
'We were under so much pressure to win in the team event because we are ranked second in the world behind China. The expectations were too much and we failed to produce our best,' said Tie, who has won eight doubles titles with Zhang on the pro tour in the past two years.