Hong Kong’s women booked a place in Friday’s semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships by beating the higher-ranked Chinese Taipei in a clash that went to the wire.
The city’s team had already swept aside Poland 3-1 in the round of 16 on Wednesday to set up the last-eight encounter on Thursday.
Getting that far guaranteed them a place in this year’s Olympic Games in Paris even before the quarter-final took place, but they proceeded to advance their medal ambitions in the present competition, too.
Facing the Taiwanese, who are ranked fourth in the world, the fifth-ranked Hongkongers took the first match in straightforward fashion in Busan, South Korea, as Doo Hoi-kem saw off Chen Szu-yu 3-0.
Hong Kong then suffered a setback, though, when Zhu Chengzhu lost by the same margin to Cheng I-ching.
Lee Ho-ching got them back on track with a 3-1 defeat of Li Yu-jhun before Doo lost to Cheng to level the overall score at 2-2.
It was left to Zhu to finish the job against Chen, and she did just that with a 3-1 scoreline by prevailing 11-9, 4-11, 11-8, 16-14.
Then a newcomer to the Hong Kong team, she upstaged Doo, Lee and Minnie Soo Wai-yam, who had won Olympic bronze the previous year, to finish the event with a 7-1 win-loss record, twice saving her side from the brink of defeat before their eventual loss in the quarter-finals.
When ping pong diplomacy fails: Son Heung-min injured finger in South Korea fight
When ping pong diplomacy fails: Son Heung-min injured finger in South Korea fight
She is now Hong Kong’s highest-ranked player, at world No 51.
Even sterner tests are likely to await Hong Kong. They were expecting to face second-ranked Japan in the last four on Friday, with China lurking on the other side of the draw as likely opponents in the final.
Hong Kong’s men, who are ranked 14th in the world, missed out on a place at the Olympics here. Needing to reach the quarter-finals to earn a spot, they lost 3-2 in the round of 32 to Austria, who are ranked 10th.