Hong Kong got off to a winning start in the men's team table tennis event yesterday, beating Russia and Nigeria in their opening two contests to take the lead in their group.
The day began well with Hong Kong holding off the Russians 3-1, thanks to Li Ching and Ko Lai-chak digging deep in their pivotal doubles clash against Alexei Smirnov and Dmitrij Mazunov. They then easily brushed aside Nigeria in their evening encounter.
A more severe test looms today, when they are to take on arch-rivals Japan at the Peking University Gymnasium.
Li and Ko, who defeated the same Russian pair in the doubles semi-finals at the Athens Games on their way to a silver medal, had to battle back from two sets down this time around.
Ko had given Hong Kong a perfect start when he overcame Fedor Kuzmin in five sets in the first singles, but the advantage was cancelled out when Smirnov - Russia's top player - defeated Cheung Yuk 3-1. With a 2-1 lead following the doubles, Hong Kong wrapped things up after 21/2 hours when Cheung beat Mazunov 3-0 in the third singles.
'We did expect a tough match against the Russians, but did not think the doubles would be so difficult,' coach Chan Kong-wah said.
Li and Ko 'played too conservatively, perhaps being complacent because of the Olympic medal they won last time'.