One of the city's best hopes for a podium finish at the HK$2 million Hong Kong Open, Wang Chen, may be forced to pull out because of an injury.
Wang is due to meet compatriot Zhou Mi in the women's singles first round today, but head coach Chan Chi-choi said a decision on whether to forfeit the match would be made after consulting doctors.
'She was injured during training on Monday,' said the coach, who added that he would disclose what the injury was only if Wang could not play today.
'We need another check-up tomorrow morning before we make the decision,' Chan said. 'The tournament is important to Wang because it offers many Olympic qualifying points, but we don't want to take the risk of worsening her injury as there are still other big events between now and the end of the qualifying period in April.'
The encounter between Wang, ranked sixth in the world, and Zhou, the world's number 13, was to be one of the highlights of opening-round action.
The only time they have met in an open tournament was in the second round of the Japan Open two months ago, when Wang won in three games, with the deciding game ending 24-22.
