Hong Kong to send an all home-grown table tennis team to the Olympics for the first time
- Hong Kong names a six-member squad for all seven events in Tokyo this summer
- It’s the first time the Hong Kong team will consist of all home-grown talents since sport was introduced to the Olympics at the 1988 Seoul Games
Wong Chun-ting and Doo Hoi-kem will spearhead Hong Kong’s first fully home-grown Olympic team in the search of medal glory this summer.
Criticised for using China-born players in the past, the local table tennis body will this time send six Hong Kong-born players to the Olympics, hoping to emulate Li Ching and Ko Lai-chak’s silver medal won in men’s doubles at the 2004 Athens Games. It’s the first time Hong Kong is sending a complete home-grown team since the city took part in the 1988 Seoul Games when the sport made its Olympic debut.
Both Wong and Doo will feature in all three events in Tokyo, meaning they will be playing the singles, team and the newly introduced mixed doubles at the Games after the Hong Kong Table Tennis Association named its squad.
Also playing in men’s singles will be up-and-coming Lam Siu-hang, while Ho Kwan-kit will only be featured in the team event as he did at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Youngster Ng Pak-nam, who helped the men’s team secure their Olympic ticket in the qualifying tournament in Portugal last year, has been named a reserve player.
In the women’s event, joining Doo in singles will be Minnie Soo Wai-yam, while veteran Lee Ho-ching, who played singles at the Rio Games, will feature only in the team event this time.
Hong Kong men join Tokyo 2020 table tennis party
Each team event features three players in the Olympics, while two of them will also play singles and one of them will play in mixed doubles.
Head coach Chan Kong-wah, who is now working with the team in China in their final build-up to Tokyo, said the selection of players was made in accordance to their world rankings.
“We know the players want to play both singles and team events but we can only have two in the singles and the best way for selection is using their world rankings,” said the coach. “In the mixed doubles, Wong and Doo booked their tickets in the qualifying tournament and therefore they are the right candidates.”
Wong now ranks 20th in men’s singles after reaching a career high seventh in 2017 while Lam is 95th, followed by Ho’s 101st ranking. In the women’s standings, Doo has the highest ranking of the team at 15 while Soo is 29th and Lee is 45th.
Hong Kong’s women’s table tennis team secure Tokyo 2020 spot
The Hong Kong men’s number one struggled with an ankle problem in 2019 but has fully recovered from his injury last year. However, with the world governing body calling off events due to the global pandemic, Wong has hardly found a way to improve his world ranking given the few events he has competed in.
