Tokyo Olympics: Hong Kong women’s table tennis team expecting showdown with Germany for bronze medal
- Doo Hoi-kem, Lee Ho-ching and Minnie Soo Wai-yam lose out to Japan in semi-final after ‘fearing their speed’
- Hong Kong know Germany well – ‘We’re old rivals and we are the underdogs, especially in certain skills,’ says coach Li Ching
If Hong Kong are to win another medal at these unprecedented Olympic Games then it will not be table tennis gold or silver.
The women’s team were beaten 3-0 by Japan in their semi-final at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on Tuesday night and the best Doo Hoi-kem, Lee Ho-ching and Minnie Soo Wai-yam can hope for is a bronze, with China or, more likely, Germany standing in their way on Thursday.
But medal reinforcements have arrived for Hong Kong in the form of cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze. The 34-year-old begins her campaign on Wednesday in the keirin, for which she won a bronze at the 2012 London Games, having crashed out in the semi-finals in Rio 2016.
Hong Kong’s other big medal hope, kata exponent Grace Lau Mo-sheung, faces her day of destiny on Thursday.
The pressure has been released from their shoulders after fencer Edgar Cheung Ka-long won a historic gold in the men’s foil last week and swimmer Siobhan Haughey followed up with silver medals in the 100m and 200m freestyle.