Hong Kong’s table tennis stars off to a mixed start at US$2 million Singapore Smash event
- Doo Hoi-kem and Lee Ho-ching go through in women’s singles, but men’s doubles pair Wong Chun-ting and Ho Kwan-kit crash out
- The world’s best have been attracted to the first ‘Smash’ series, with China sending all of its top players
Hong Kong kicked off their campaign with mixed results at the Singapore Smash, a new series on the world table tennis circuit likened to grand slams in tennis, which offers a staggering total purse of US$2 million – the highest ever for the sport.
At the Singapore Sports Hub’s OCBC Arena, Doo Hoi-kem and Lee Ho-ching – members of Hong Kong’s bronze medal winning team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – both went through in the round of 64 in the women’s singles, but Wong Chun-ting and Ho Kwan-kit were stopped in the men’s doubles.
Lee beat Dina Meshref of Egypt 3-0 (11-0, 11-6, 11-7) while Doo struggled in the first game against Britt Eerland of the Netherlands with a close 14-12 win after deuce, before sealing victory through two more games in 11-6, 11-8.
In the men’s doubles event, which featured 32 pairs, Wong and Ho could do little against a mixed team of Tomas Polansky of the Czech Republic and Darko Jorgic of Slovenia, losing in straight games 11-7, 11-6, 11-5.
“The two girls did pretty well and the results were not a surprise,” head coach Chan Kong-wah said.
“This is the first tournament in the ‘Smash’ series and all players are eager to perform with a hefty amount of cash and ranking points on offer. Doo and Lee are in good form as seen from their recent training, and hopefully they can keep it up as the tournament progresses.”
Lee will take on Suh Hyo-won of South Korea in the next round, while Hong Kong’s Minnie Soo Wai-yam will start her campaign on Saturday against Yuan Jianan of France.
