Singapore Smash: Hong Kong pair have busy road ahead as World Championships loom on horizon
- Trio of table tennis events await for Doo Hoi-kem and Wong Chun-ting ahead of major tournament in South Africa
- Meanwhile, Doo and women’s doubles partner Zhu Chengzhu have been told they need to ‘be braver’ in attack
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Hong Kong table tennis pair Doo Hoi-kem and Zhu Chengzhu have been told they must “be braver” if they want to win major tournaments.
The women’s doubles team crashed out of this week’s Singapore Smash at the quarter-final stage, and will now turn their attention to the World Table Tennis Championship Finals in South Africa in May.
And while coach Zhang Rui said the pair’s performance, after only being together for less than a year, was “satisfactory to say the least”, there remained plenty of room for improvement.
“It is obvious though, we have to keep raising our game and level when it comes to playing against the world’s best,” Zhang said. “We need more competitive games ahead of South Africa.”
Li Ching, head coach of the women’s team, said while the pair had shown “visible” improvement when it came to positioning they needed to work on their attack.
“They have to be braver in terms of initiating attack when on the receiving end,” Li said.
Doo will have the chance to work on her approach alongside mixed doubles partner Wong Chun-ting, with the city’s top-ranked players now facing a run of three tournaments across Asia, beginning in Henan in mainland China early next month. A stop in Macau follows soon after.
Separately, men’s team coach Liu Guodong, rued missed chances as Wong and Ho Kwan-kit crashed out in the round of 16 of the men’s doubles in Singapore.
The world No 17 pair lost to Qiu Dang and Benedikt Duda 11-9, 8-11, 15-13 and 11-3 in 27 minutes, after defeating Belgian pair Martin Allegro and Florent Lambiet in the previous round.
“We played the same world No. 5 German pair twice previously and lost on both occasions,” Liu said. “We had the chance to prevail but failed to grab the opportunity.”
While Doo and Wong are travelling, the rest of the squad will be put through some intense training back in Hong Kong, and Li said officials were hoping to have overseas teams come to provide opposition.
The entire squad will then meet up in Thailand for the WTT Star Contender Bangkok at Huamark Indoor Stadium from April 23 to 29, with all five singles and doubles events available.
