Hong Kong's men admitted they lost the battle of the minds as their interest in the World Championships ended on day four of the competition. Both men's singles players Ng Wei and Agus Hariyanto together with the doubles pairing of Liu Kwok-wa and Albertus Susanto Njoto left the court after their third-round losses confessing they had made psychological mistakes.
Fourteenth seed Ng Wei was the most obvious example, as he gave the world number two Kenneth Jonassen an 8-0 start, before recovering to put the Dane through a gruelling 57-minute match that finished 15-8, 17-16. 'From the beginning I wasn't confident enough. It was only once he had eight points that I started, but it was too late,'' admitted 22-year-old Ng, who recovered to force two game points in the second set. 'I played more easily and he got tired, but I just didn't have enough experience. ''
Hong Kong's top- ranked male, the seventh seed Hariyanto suffered an uncharacteristic meltdown and a shock defeat against the South Korean Shon Seung-mo, going out 8-15, 15-2, 15-2, and admitted that he lost his head. 'It's unusual for me. I have to calm down more,'' Hariyanto admitted. 'I just had to play the same way as I did in the first set and I could have beaten him.'
It was a similar tale for men's doubles pair Liu and Njoto who fought tooth and nail against the 1997 world champions Sigit Budiarto and Candra Wijaya until midway through the second set when, with the score at 5-6, 25-year-old Liu missed an easy smash at the net. The Indonesians, still regarded as one of the best pairs in the world despite only being seeded 11th, then quickly ran away with the match 15-13, 15-6.
'I couldn't focus anymore in the match, I was too angry,'' Lui confessed. 'It was a young man's mistake. I got angry too easily and they seized their chance.'
Hong Kong's lone survivor was number one seed Wang Chen who was facing China's Zhou Mi late last night (HK time) in the women's singles quarter-finals.