Hong Kong's number one women's player, Chai Po-wa, gave, herself an early Olympics boost when she finished third at the recent English Open in Kettering - her second tournament in 11 months after recovering from an elbow injury.
Chai's world ranking has slipped from a career-high of third last summer to its present ninth position after missing months of competition since her injury at the last World Championships in Tianjin, China, in May.
Her road to recovery was a frustrating one. After months of physiotherapy, she felt she was in good enough condition to compete at the Asian Cup in India last December.
But when she arrived in New Delhi she found, to her disappointment, that the tournament had been cancelled.
She finally got down to serious competition when she competed in the Asian Women All-Star tournament in Hong Kong three weeks after the New Delhi fiasco.
She reached the semi-finals in the eight-woman field.
