HK girls outplay India for bronze at world juniors
Hong Kong upset third seed India 2-1 to win a bronze medal at the Women's World Junior Championships in Boston, Massachusetts, at the weekend.
Seeded sixth, Hong Kong had lost to the same opponents in the pool stage, but gained sweet revenge in the medal play-off.
Choi Uen-shan drew first blood for Hong Kong when she defeated Aparajitha Balamurukan 3-1 (11-9, 11-9, 12-14, 11-8) in the opening tie, and although Lee Ka-yi suffered a 3-0 defeat (11-3, 11-6, 11-7) to Anaka Alankamony, Tomato Ho Tze-lok made sure of the victory when she beat Saumya Karki 3-2 (4-11, 11-5, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8).
'We never expected that result, even though we won a silver medal at the same tournament two years ago,' head coach Tony Choi Yuk-kwan said. 'Most of the silver medal squad members are no longer part of the team because we sent a pretty young team to Boston with the aim of gaining international exposure.
'Our target was to finish in the top eight so that they could come back stronger at the next world juniors, but they have achieved such a good result - it's totally beyond our expectations. We can now set a higher standard for the next world event.'
Choi is just 14 years old and Ho is 15, but both have showed great skills and determination against older players in Boston. Both will still be eligible for the next world juniors, for which competitors must be under 19 years of age.
Defending champions Egypt, who beat Hong Kong 2-0 in the semi-finals, went on to win the world title. Led by the new world individual champion Nour El Tayeb, they scored a 2-1 win over hosts the US, who were playing in their first final in the world event.
