Zhu Chengzhu eyes women’s doubles medal at World Table Tennis Championships in Durban
- Combination of fast improving Zhu and Doo Hoi-kem look to keep rolling after winning two golds on tour
- Mixed doubles pair of Doo and Wong Chun-ting are also out to regain glory after taking bronze at 2015 and 2017 Worlds
The fast improving Zhu Chengzhu has set her sights on a first World Championships medal following the formation of a successful combination with Doo Hoi-kem in the women’s doubles.
Both are members of the 9-player Hong Kong squad that will depart for Durban on Tuesday to compete against the world’s top players in the South Africa city.
Zhu and Doo have won twice as a duo on the world tour since pairing up a year ago and have now cracked the top 10 in the world rankings.
“I feel very excited as this will be my first appearance in the doubles at the world’s biggest event,” Zhu said.
“Before I only took part in the singles and team events at the World Championships and I really look forward to the opportunity of rubbing shoulders against the best players in the world.
“My partner is a quality player and her presence can always give me extra impetus. We have been working quite well together and have stood on the podium a number of times. But every player wants to perform at the World Championships and we cannot bring home honours without putting up a strong fight.”
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Formerly a member of the Shanghai youth team, the 26-year-old Zhu moved to Hong Kong a decade ago to continue her career, but it was not until the last team World Championships in Chengdu in 2022 that she made her presence felt.
She saved the team on a number of occasions before helping Hong Kong reach the quarterfinals where they were beaten 3-2 by Germany.
Hong Kong has not won a women’s doubles medal at the Worlds for more than 10 years after Tie Yana and Jiang Huajun – both of whom have since retired – snatched a bronze at the 2011 Rotterdam event.
Head coach Chan Kong-wah praised Zhu for the progress she has made so far, but warned the player that she needed to adjust her mentality.
“When she was little known, she could mount challenges to players with higher rankings without any burden,” the coach said.
“But now, she can feel the pressure as she is not an unknown player any more. Other players will also start to watch her performances and study her game, making life much more difficult for her.
“She must learn how to cope with this by improving her overall strength so that she can scale to a higher level and continue to get good results. It may take her a while, depending how she improves, and the World Championships in Durban will be a major test for her.”
Doo will form part of another duo in the mixed doubles with Wong Chun-ting, and they will be looking to show they are still a force to be reckoned with after snatching bronze medals at the Worlds in 2015 and 2017 respectively.
“We just went to China to train with their national junior squad for 10 days to prepare for Durban,” Wong said. “The training results have been quite good, and we are getting better and better as the Worlds loom. We haven’t won a World Championships medal for a long time and we’ll see what we can do this time.”
The pair are now ranked sixth in the world, and coach Chan said the draw, which will not be made until their arrival in South Africa, will have great impact on their progress as they would need to avoid meeting the Chinese mainlanders in the early stages.
In Durban, Hong Kong will have three other men’s players in the singles in Ho Kwan-kit, Lam Siu-hang and Ng Pak-nam. Wong and Ho will also combine for the men’s doubles, as will Lam and Ng.
Doo, Zhu, Lee Ho-ching, Ng Wing-lam, and Lam Yee-lok will all take part in the women’s singles. Lee and Ng will combine for the women’s doubles, as will Ho and Lee.
