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SCMP Reporter

IT was all woes for Hongkong after three days of competition at the East Asian Games in Shanghai, with the territory clinching only two bronze medals through badminton.

  The bronze came from the men's and women's team competitions which, in fact, were ''non-events'' because there were only a handful of entries in both divisions.

  Luck of the draw was certainly with Hongkong in the men's category when they were pitched against lowly Macau in the opening match, with a victory putting them straight into the semi-final.

  They duly demolished Macau 5-0 to guarantee themselves of at least a bronze medal because there is no play-off between the losing semi-finalists for third position.

  Olympian Wong Wai-lap put up a sterling performance to beat China's No 2 singles Wan Zhengwen 15-18, 18-17, 15-10 but could not save Hongkong from defeat by the mainlanders.

   Nevertheless coach Chan Chi-choi was delighted with Wong's effort and said: ''It is a breakthrough for Hongkong because this is our first ever competitive victory over a full-fledged Chinese international.

  ''This can wipe out the inferiority complex our players suffer whenever they face players from China or Indonesia.''   The women's squad do not even have to win a match in the five-team competition, going straight into the semi-final in which they received a 5-0 drubbing from China.

  Hongkong were just a touch away from a swimming medal in the women's 4 x 100 metres freestyle when they were narrowly pipped by South Korea to third place.

  China and Japan were well clear of the pack, leaving Hongkong and the Koreans in a race of their own.

  Lung En-ting clocked one minute and 2.41 seconds for the first leg, leaving Hongkong in fifth place only ahead of minnows Macau.

  Fourteen-year-old Katie Lau swam the second leg in 1:01.54 to move Hongkong into fourth place, overtaking North Korea.

  Hongkong's star swimmer Robyn Lamsam put the territory team into a medal position with a courageous 58.52 effort, giving Caroline Ng a slender lead over South Korea's Lee Chang-ha going into the final leg.

  But 14-year-old Ng's 1:02.01 was not quite good enough and Lee was in command with 20 metres to go, going on to land the bronze medal in 4:04.27.

  Lamsam has been the territory's most impressive swimmer in Shanghai. She beat her own 200 m freestyle national record by 0.96 of a second with a time of 2:07.00 in finishing sixth.

  Snowie Pang also set a Hongkong record at the meeting, clocking 2:44.87 in the women's 200 m breast-stroke.

  But Hongkong's top medal hopes in the men's division, Michael Wright and Arthur Li, were most disappointing when they both performed well below their personal best in the 100 m freestyle.

  Wright was fifth in 53.01 seconds while Li could not even qualify for the final with a 55.12 effort.

  The ultimate disgrace for Hongkong was in tenpin bowling, an event in which the territory was fancied to grab medals in the face of limited competition.

  Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Hongkong were expected to be the only teams challenging for medals as Guam and China, who only started a national bowling team three years ago, both looked out of depth.

  Hongkong bowlers, however, tumbled like nine-pins in the singles competitions with the highest player being Karen Lorenzana in the women's division, finishing 10th out of 36 entries.

  Lorenzana scored 1,161 pins while Cat Che Kuk-hung, who won a gold and a silver at the 1986 Asian Games, was 15th on 1,148.

  Hongkong's top finishers in men's singles were Franko Lau in 12th position on 1,172 and Frankie Cheung in 16th on 1,164.

  Hongkong can look ahead to better results over the coming days - in rowing and wushu.

   Nanquan (southern boxing) exponent Leung Yat-ho is the world champion and he should figure among the medals. Ng Siu-ching is also a top contender in women's nanquan and all-round.



Territory doing badly in Games