HK labour past Austrians to keep winning streak
Hong Kong women's team last night extended their winning streak at the world championships with another narrow victory in group D over Austria in Dortmund, Germany.
Top seeds in their group, Hong Kong struggled to edge past Czech Republic 3-2 in their opening match on Sunday and beat the Austrians by the same scoreline.
Leading player Tie Yana, playing her fifth world team event, remained the most consistent player with victories in all her four matches so far. The 32-year-old made no mistake with a 3-0 win over Elena Waggermayer in the opening tie last night, but Jiang Huajun then lost to former mainlander Liu Jia after four games in the following match.
Li Qiangbing, another former mainlander who is now playing for Austria, made it 2-1 to the Europeans with her victory over Lee Ho-ching. Despite enjoying a good run at the recent Asian Championships in Macau, where she defeated world No 11 Sayaka Hirano of Japan, Lee could not hold her nerve at the highest level and lost 3-0 to her rival.
Tie then came to Hong Kong's rescue with a 3-2 win over Liu, before Jiang sealed victory with a four-game win over Waggermayer in the fifth rubber.
Hong Kong coach Li Huifen said she was looking to finish in a medal position in Dortmund after losing to Germany in the quarter-finals in Moscow two years ago.
Hong Kong take on Russia in their third match today. The Russians were beaten by group favourites South Korea 3-1 last night.
