Asian Games: Hong Kong squash team backs new generation in hunt for 5 medals
- With star players having retired since the last Games in Jakarta, younger replacements will play a fuller role next month in Hangzhou
- Newly crowned Asian women’s champion Simmi Chan among the city’s eight-strong squad for the Games
A new generation of squash players will have to step up when Hong Kong head to Hangzhou next month aiming to live up to past glories at the Asian Games.
An eight-member contingent, headed by Ho Tze-lok in the women’s and Alex Lau Tsz-kwan in the men’s, will strive for honours in the men’s and women’s individual and team events and the newly added mixed doubles.
At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Ho was only an up-and-coming player when the women’s team got their gold medal. Now the 27-year-old has to shoulder more responsibility alongside teammates Simmi Chan Sin-yuk, Tong Tsz-wing and Lee Ka-yi.
With Hong Kong squash taking home two gold and two silver from Jakarta, the pressure is on for this year’s squad to repeat past successes.
While the city’s head coach Peter Genever said the target was to win medals in all five events – although he preferred not to specify which colour – women’s coach Rebecca Chiu Wing-yin would go only as far as to quietly talk up the chance of a second successive medal in the team competition.
“A number of teams are very close,” said Chiu – the only Hong Kong player to have won the women’s individual gold at the Asian Games, in 2002. “Malaysia may be slightly better but Hong Kong, India and even Japan also have chances.
“Malaysia were always the top team in the region before, with Nicol David [their now retired star player], and they still have many good players, but overall it’s now more difficult to predict the results.”
David first won the Asian Games singles in 1998 in Bangkok, then went on to win four more golds from 2006 to 2018, her loss only being to Chiu in Busan in 2002. Her retirement in 2019 has opened the door for others.
Hong Kong’s Chan, among the favourites in Hangzhou, was crowned Asian champion in June in her home city after defeating Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam in the final.
Chan, 21, said that although her victory on home turf may have made her the player to beat at the Games, that last triumph will count for nothing when it comes to chasing team as well as individual honours in China.
“I have to put [the Asian Championships] behind me and take it match by match in Hangzhou to see how far I can reach,” the Colombia University student said.
“I would be very happy to help the team achieve good results and also do well in the individual event.”
The players have begun a summer training camp with a strong emphasis on physical conditioning, mindful that the squash tournament in Hangzhou will take place over 10 successive days – the first five days being taken up by the team event.
They will then travel to Paris and Doha for two platinum tournaments later this month as they fine-tune their build-up.
