It hasn't taken Lai Man-fei, 19, much time to make his mark on the local football scene. The defender joined the South China reserves in 2006 and was promoted to the First Division squad the following year.
The league leaders and defending champions realised the youngster had potential, so they sent him to Japan for a month-long training stint last year.
'I treasure all the opportunities I get and I'll strive to do my best,' says Lai.
Lai, along with Chan Ka-chun, trained with the under-19 team of the J-League's Yokohama F. Marinos shortly before the start of the 2007-08 season.
Lai says the training in Japan was very harsh. 'The Japanese players have great physical strength. To me, the toughest part is the physical aspect,' he says.
On the first day, Lai was asked to run 17 laps around the football ground.