Draw does HK pairings no favours

Hong Kong national badminton coach Chan Chi-choi has worked hard for two years for the moment when his players step out on to the world's ultimate sporting stage.

Hundreds upon hundreds of hours have been spent on the practice courts and the gym and a king's ransom has been paid for overseas tournament trips to hone his players' skill.

So he could be forgiven for feeling even a little downhearted when he saw the draw for the Atlanta Olympic badminton competition, when all that work could be dismantled within only an hour.

Hong Kong's two doubles teams competing in Atlanta have been handed tough first-round assignments, when one defeat would mean the end of their Olympic campaigns.

The men's doubles of Chan Siu-kwong and Tim He will play British top pair Simon Archer and Chris Hunt in the first round, while the territory's mixed doubles team of He and Chan Oi-ni face a bigger hurdle against fifth-seeded South Koreans Kim Dong-moon and Gil Young-ah. But far from predicting disaster, Chan shrugs his shoulders and says it is an accepted fact of international sport, especially knockout tournaments where the draw is never kind to the minnows.

'It is a very tough draw, but we have to live with it,' he said. 'It is the Olympics and you expect to have tough opponents, although in truth we were not expecting such strong opponents so early.