Wang Chen has no sense of bitterness when she wears the SAR jersey even if she's competing for her second-choice team in a competition she has mixed feelings about. Once discarded as one of China's top players, Wang will be the SAR's number one at the Uber Cup finals - the most prestigious women's team tournament - come May in Guangzhou, secure in the knowledge that her spot will not be threatened.
While the Beijing-born player was rejected for a place in the mainland squad for the 1998 finals, which were held in Hong Kong, she won't need to worry about losing her place in May - she has been Hong Kong's leading female player since she joined the SAR squad in July 1999.
Her importance to the squad was illustrated in Melbourne 10 days ago when Wang remained unbeaten in the opening singles and led the SAR women's team to qualify for the Uber Cup finals for the first time. Hong Kong earned direct entry to the 1996 and 1998 showcases as hosts.
Wang had played a key role for China in her only previous Uber Cup finals appearance at the 1996 showcase in Hong Kong but that ended up being a tournament she would rather forget. She got as far as the championship showdown but her defeat to young Indonesian star Mia Audina in the second singles was a big factor in China's 4-1 defeat.
'I felt sad when I thought about the 1996 and 1998 Uber Cup finals but the one in Guangzhou is going to be a different tournament,' Wang, 26, said at the Sha Tin Sports Institute after returning from Melbourne while preparing for the All England Open, which starts this week. 'I hope to help Hong Kong finish in the top three. [Defending champions] China are still invincible but we might be able to challenge against Denmark, South Korea and Holland.
'I might play against China depending on the draw but I'll just do my best. I have nothing to prove to them.' Wang said her exclusion from the 1998 event, which underlined her bitter departure from the mainland squad, was unfair and hard to forget.
