Hong Kong's men's and women's teams returned from the 12th Asian Championships in Malaysia yesterday vowing to do better at the next tourney after disappointment at the National Squash Centre in Kuala Lumpur. At the end of the two-week competition, Hong Kong came away with a silver medal in the women's team event and a bronze in the women's individual through 2002 Asian Games gold medallist Rebecca Chiu Wing-yin. But they were not the kinds of results expected from the Hong Kong team, who had gone into the event as prepared as they had ever been. Having spent a total of four weeks training with reigning world women's champion Carol Owens and former world number 11 Stephen Meads, Hong Kong still suffered heartbreak with hosts Malaysia winning three out of four titles. Pakistan won the men's team title to prevent a Malaysian clean sweep. Hong Kong coach Tony Choi Yuk-kwan said although there had been 'definite' improvement in the team, he was still 'a bit disappointed' that the SAR's most celebrated player, Chiu, had not done better in the individual event. Chiu was expected to meet arch-rival Nicol David of Malaysia in the final of last week's individual event, but the much-anticipated Chiu-David final never materialised after the Hong Kong number one was knocked out in the semi-finals by host player Sharon Wee. David easily won her fourth Asian title, leaving Chiu to reflect on what could have been as she will have to wait another two years before she has a chance to avenge her loss at the next Asian Championships, scheduled for Taiwan. 'It was a bit disappointing that Rebecca did not go further into the draw, but she was under tremendous pressure being the reigning Asian Games champion. Everybody was gunning to beat her. The focus was all on her,' said Choi. 'Rebecca lost to Sharon Wee three or four years ago at the Singapore Open and Sharon had nothing to lose this time. Rebecca still won the bronze medal.' There is no playoff match for the bronze. Chiu, the world number 20, won the first game against Wee before her game folded like a pack of cards for Wee to score a 3-1 triumph to reach the final against David, who then won the all-Malaysian affair to equal compatriot's Mah Li Lian's record of four Asian titles. Hong Kong fared poorly in the men's individual and team event with the SAR's top players failing to impress, finishing fifth in the team contest and going no further than the last 16 in the individual competition, which was won by Malaysia's Ong Beng Hee for the third straight time. Hong Kong had actually gone into the men's team event as the highest-placed Asian side at last year's World Team Championships in Austria. 'We were badly missing [Hong Kong champion] Wong Wai-hang, who was sick for the whole week and couldn't play. We needed four players but he was sick with a stomach bug, sore throat and fever,' said Choi.
