Hong Kong table tennis pairs battle into quarter-finals at World Championships in Houston
- Doo Hoi-kem loses all three matches in round-of-16 while Wong Chun-ting gets through in the men’s doubles
- China continue to dominate with five women’s singles players in the last eight
Only two Hong Kong doubles pairs made it to the quarter-finals as heavyweights China continued their domination at the table tennis World Championships in Houston on Friday.
Hong Kong No 1 Wong Chun-ting lost both of his singles and mixed doubles matches at George R Brown Convention Centre, but saved some face when he partnered Ho Kwan-kit to reach the last eight of the men’s doubles.
The pair were pushed to the limit before taking the last game after it went to deuce, securing a narrow 3-2 win (11-5, 8-11, 14-12, 9-11, 12-10) over Kallberg Anton and Moregrad Truls of Sweden.
Wong could do little to trouble Lin Gaoyuan of China when he was beaten 4-1 in their singles encounter, however.
It was an even worse day for women’s No 1 Doo Hoi-kem, who lost all three of her matches – with Wong in the mixed doubles, with Lee Ho-ching in the women’s doubles, and her singles tie against defensive chopper Suh Hyo-won of South Korea.
“The scores were very close in each game of the match against Suh but unfortunately Doo failed in many of the big points and that is why she lost,” said head coach Chan Kong-wah.