Brown ready to deputise for Wong

Hong Kong's top singles player Wayne Wong has been ruled out of next weekend's Davis Cup home tie against Kuwait. But despite the absence of their big gun, the SAR camp are confident they have sufficient firepower to win the 2004 Asia/Oceania Zone Group II first round match at Victoria Park.

Former number one singles player Michael Brown is expected to carry the load. Australian Brown, who last played for Hong Kong in 2002, will most probably be nominated for the top slot by Davis Cup non-playing captain Derek Ling.

'Hong Kong will miss Wayne as he is our number one singles player and the best performing player in recent years. But I believe we have the players who can fill in for him,' said Ling yesterday as the Hong Kong squad prepared for the February 6-8 tie. Hong Kong are the second seeds in the group.

Ling has named a squad of five players for the tie - Brown, John Hui, Lu Ling, Brian Hung and Yu Hiu-tung. Ling has until Thursday, the eve of the tie, to make any last minute nominations. Apart from Brown, all the other four players (including Wong) were involved in last year's Davis Cup campaign where Hong Kong reached the final before losing to Taiwan.

Kuwait are newcomers to Group Two, having earned promotion last year. It will be the first time that Hong Kong will play Kuwait in the Davis Cup.

'I expect them to be formidable foes. Even though they have qualified from Group Three they should not be taken lightly. They have a couple of players who are ranked on the professional circuit, including one player who played for Pakistan before. It will be a tough tie,' said Ling.