Hong Kong's hopes of reaching a final at the world championships were dashed yesterday as they fell to Chinese combinations in the semi-finals of the men's doubles and the mixed doubles.
In the men's doubles, Ko Lai-chak and Li Ching failed to repeat their Doha Asian Games feat as they lost 4-1 to Chen Qi and Ma Lin. Ko and Li had beaten Chen and Ma in the final of the Doha tournament in November but it was not to be this time as the mainlanders, who had defeated the Hong Kong duo in the Athens Olympic Games final, advanced.
It was a bad day all-round for Ko, as he also lost in the mixed doubles when he and partner Tie Yana were thrashed by Ma and Wang Nan in straight sets. Despite the two defeats, Hong Kong had the consolation of winning a medal in each event for the first time, although they were already assured of the bronze even before yesterday's matches began.
'The last time we won a medal in the men's event was 1983 when Lo Chuen-tsung came third in the singles,' said men's coach Chan Kong-wah, who played with Lo for most of his career for Hong Kong. 'We have had to wait for more than 20 years for another medal. So, it is an achievement, but overall I am not too happy with the performance of my players.'
Chan said his players would probably drop a number of positions in the world rankings after some early exits in the singles. 'We will face a much more difficult task to clinch Beijing Olympic berths through ranking and in the worst-case scenario may need to go through the continental qualifiers,' he said.
'The players came to Zagreb with impressive form. Li Ching helped his club win the European Champions League this month but never displayed his winning form here, while Ko lost in a lousy match to a Dominican player. Physically they were very fit but mentally they still have a lot to learn.'