Top seed Wong Wai-hang of Hong Kong staged a remarkable recovery to beat Romain Tenant of France in the second round of the HK$160,000 Buler Challenge Cup at the Squash Centre yesterday.
Having lost the first two games 11-7, 11-3, Wong knuckled down to claim the next three games 11-8, 15-13, 11-7 and reach the semi-finals.
Wong will meet third seed Mohammad Nafizwan Adnan of Malaysia after the latter beat Hong Kong's Roger Ngan Lun-cheung 3-0. Both Wong and Ngan represented the SAR at the Asian Games in Doha.
'He (Wong) did not play his best,' Hong Kong coach Tony Choi Yuk-kwan said. 'Although there should be no excuse for any player, Wong's performance has obviously been affected by the Asian Games. It is difficult for a player to regain his top form shortly after competing in an important event like the Asiad.
'But Wong showed a good fighting spirit today as he did not give up despite going two games down. It was not easy for him.'
Rebecca Chiu Wing-yin, women's silver medallist in Doha, also struggled in the opening round against 17-year-old youngster Annie Au on Wednesday. The coach admitted the event is not happening at the right time for those Asian Games representatives, but said Hong Kong needed as much competitive play as possible for the youngsters who will be in action at the Asian Junior Championships in two weeks' time.