Hong Kong's men's doubles tennis pairing of John Hui Kin-yip and Melvin Tong Man-chung were grateful for the sun's glare as they beat their Hubei rivals in straight sets to win a bronze - the the SAR's third medal - in Guangzhou yesterday.
'We're honoured to be one of Hong Kong's medallists at the Games. We're very happy to have won it,' said Hui after their 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 victory over Hubei's Jiang Shan and Zhu Benqiang in the men's doubles third-placed playoff. New cycling star Ho Siu-lun won the SAR's first gold of the Games at the velodrome last Friday to add to windsurfing queen Lee Lai-shan's silver last month.
Hui, 23, said they were 5-1 down in the first set but were able to bounce back because their opponents had problems with their overhead strokes because of the glare from a blazing sun.
'It was very sunny today. We both wore sunglasses but we don't know why they didn't wear them as well. We just kept on sending more high balls and they kept on making mistakes with them,' Hui said.
Hui also said Tong, 26, and he played much better than their straight-set defeat to the same duo in the team event quarter-finals earlier this month. 'Our returns were good today. We didn't make many unforced errors while they made quite a lot. They seemed to be under pressure after they beat us last time.'
Hui, who turned professional last January, said the result surpassed their expectations given their preparation for the Games was far from ideal because both of them had commitments on the circuit.