It was, Hong Kong's coach Timothy Darling said, David v Goliath in almost every sense. China: red-hot Asian Games gold-medal favourites, a wealth of experience and a towering lineup featuring five players topping the two-metre mark, against Hong Kong, a team long on tactical savvy and guts but short on just about everything else including, fatally, height. The outcome of yesterday's game, a one-sided 105-47 drubbing for Darling's game but hopelessly out-classed team at the Thammasat University gym, surprised nobody. Two years ago, several of this Chinese side were given a similar trouncing by America's Dream Team at the Atlanta Olympics. After yesterday, Hong Kong will have an idea of what that beating suffered at the Georgia Dome must have felt like. China regard basketball as one of their gold-medal bankers and they have brought a more or less full-strength team to Bangkok, spearheaded by the talented Wang Zhizhi, the 2.12-metre centre, who is reported to have aroused the interest of a clutch of NBA sides. As such, Hong Kong were never in with much of a shout and the tip-off for the first period told the story of the game. Hong Kong's Li Wai-lun (1.99m), lined up against China's man-mountain Batere Menk (2.12m), crouched, sprang and soared optimistically upward. His mainland opponent hardly had to move, plucking the ball away beyond Li with contemptuous ease. Chang Kam-chau had a moment to savour in the opening seconds though, when he burrowed his way through the Chinese defence and laid up to make it 2-0, but that was as close as Hong Kong got. The first period ended with China 54-23 up and they added another 51 after the break to seal a crushing win, which left Darling awestruck. 'I knew they were good but I didn't realise how good,' the seasoned Canadian coach said. 'I've coached college basketball at NCAA level and this Chinese team are in that class, easily. 'We were never kidding ourselves and it was David and Goliath from the start. All I could really do was tell the guys to go out and play with pride. I think they did that.' They certainly did. Darling's young team, graduates of Hong Kong's famous basketball centres of excellence - Southorn Playground and Victoria Park - made nuisances of themselves right up until the last seconds. Their collective sense of pride in simply being given the opportunity to represent Hong Kong at this level shone through. The Hong Kong spirit was typified by Yung Kam-wah. As Hong Kong's only proper professional basketball player, Yung led by example and was tireless in attack and defence. 'We're here to represent Hong Kong and we're here to represent ourselves. I was proud of the whole team today. As a coach, you really can't ask for more in these sort of games,' Darling said. Hong Kong will now play host nation Thailand in their remaining first-round game tomorrow. Victory will put them into the next round; defeat will see them heading back home. 'It's another tough game, but we feel we have a chance. The crowd will be with Thailand but we've got the talent,' said Darling.
