Chiu defeat ends HK's hopes in Open, but signs good for next year
Rebecca Chiu Wing-yin failed to break her jinx against England's Vicky Botwright, losing again to the sixth seed in the women's second round at the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open yesterday.
The 3-0 defeat at Hong Kong Squash Centre was a similar result to last year when Botwright knocked Hong Kong's top player out at the same stage.
'I knew it was going to be tough against her when the draw was made,' said Chiu after her 9-5, 9-4, 9-3 loss in slightly over half an hour. 'She did not make too many mistakes today, taking most of the chances she got and defending well when I was in attack.
'But it was also because I did not put her under enough pressure as I found it difficult to play against such a physical player.'
'Chiu has performed satisfactorily but she needs to raise her game a bit more if she wants to beat a top player like Botwright,' said Hong Kong coach Tony Choi Yuk-kwan.
Chiu's exit ended Hong Kong's hopes in the HK$1.6 million tournament, but the coach is confident of better performances next year.
'We have seen some excellent matches from our up-and-coming players like Max Lee and Dick Lau and I would expect some breakthroughs next year,' said Choi.
World number one Nicol David, of Malaysia, continued her good form with a straight-games disposal of Annelize Naude, of the Netherlands, while newly crowned world champion Rachael Grinham, of Australia, prevailed over England's Laura Lengthorn-Massaro 9-5, 9-4, 10-8.
In the men's event, top seed Amr Shabana of Egypt had little difficulty completing another straight-games win when he defeated Malaysian Ong Beng Hee, the Asian Games champion, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8.
Lee Beachill, the seventh seed from England, used only 21 minutes to oust Hisham M. Ashour of Egypt 3-0 while it took 96 minutes for another Egyptian player, Wael El Hindi, to defeat Joey Barrington, of England, 11-8, 11-7, 14-16, 11-9.
