ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships: Hong Kong closer to Olympic place thanks to rookies’ wins
- Baldwin Chan ‘super-happy’ after his victory helps to fill the void left by Ho Kwan-kit, who was ruled out with a nasty finger injury
- Hong Kong reach knockout stage and can earn place at Olympics by winning next two rounds
Hong Kong’s men have reached the knockout stage at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships in South Korea to stand two rounds from a place in this year’s Olympics.
Baldwin Chan Ho-wah’s victory on his debut sealed an impressive 3-0 win over Serbia in the final group matches in Busan on Tuesday, sending Hong Kong into Wednesday’s first knockout round as runners-up in their group.
Last-16 ties begin later on Wednesday, with the winners of those reaching not only the quarter-finals here but the Paris Games.
Hong Kong had been forced to change their team after Ho Kwan-kit injured his left ring finger on Sunday in a loss to Sweden. The 26-year-old smashed his paddle-gripping hand on the edge of the table, resulting in internal bleeding that ruled him out of the rest of the tournament.
Yiu Kwan-to stepped in to help beat Puerto Rico 3-1, then another rookie, in world No 137 Chan, delivered against the Serbians.
Lam Siu-hang had defeated Marko Jevtovic 3-1 and Wong Chun-ting eased past Aleksa Gacev 3-0 before Chan got his chance against Peto Zsolt. The 19-year-old split the first two games before winning the next two.