Team Hong Kong is no stranger to the table tennis world. In the last 20 years, the team which heavily relied on in-coming players was a frequent medalist at table tennis tournaments. Although the team missed out the podium in the 2016 World Championships ending up fifth in Kula Lumpur, the team comes in this year with a bright and young squad of mostly locally-trained players and is striving for a podium finish in Halmstad, Sweden at the 2018 World Championships. Doo Hoi Kem, Lee Ho Ching, Soo Wai Yam Minnie and their coach Zhang Rui spoke with RTHK about their performance at 2018 Team World Cup and their plans at the upcoming World Championships. We have summarized the radio interview for you, so check it out below and enjoy!
Summary of "Meng's Sports Weekly" by Xiao Meng (20180311)
Talking about Hong Kong table tennis team, many would think of Li Ching, Ko Lai Chak, Tang Peng and Tie Yana as for the current generation, we might have heard of Wong Chun Ting. However, the women's team is not bad either. They placed third at the 2018 Team World Cup. More importantly, all the 5 members were born and raised in Hong Kong. Let's see what Doo Hoi Kem, Lee Ho Ching, Soo Wai Yam Minnie and coach Zhang Rui think about the Team World Cup and their goals for the forthcoming World Championships.
Bold Moves at 2018 Team World Cup
Zhang Rui, coach of the Hong Kong women's team, is satisfied with the team's performance and would score 9 out of 10 for the overall performance. One of the surprising moment at the Team World Cup, she recalled, was her courageous arrangement in the lineup in the quarterfinals against Team Romania. In that match, Soo Wai Yam was assigned to play the position of the no.1 player (responsible for 2 singles matches) and Doo Hoi Kem collaborated with Lee Ho Ching in the doubles match. The aim of this arrangement was to win the first point for the team and make a good start for the match.
The decision of having this arrangement was discussed on the coach on the way to the arena. At first, the 3 players believe the usual lineup would be a reliable arrangement while Zhang Rui's special arrangement in their opinion was a bit too aggressive. If the doubles lost the first match, the pressure on Soo Wai Yam would be immense. However, Zhang Rui insisted that was the lineup to go for because she knows her athletes well and is confident in them. After considering the playing styles of her athletes and opponents, Zhang Rui was sure that the lineup is the best option. It turned out a success where Team Hong Kong advanced to the semifinals (lost to China) and placed third.
Doo Hoi Kem and Soo Wai Yam are happy with the results. "It has been awhile that we haven't made to the podium. The last time we finished on a podium was 4 years ago at the World Championships in Japan. I wasn't the key player at that time, so this was my first time to compete at a team event as a key player and I am happy to win a team bronze." said Doo Hoi Kem. The last time Soo Wai Yam attended a team competition was in 2 years ago at the 2016 World Championships which she did not have a chance to play a match and the team did not medal at the tournament. She is glad to win bronze in London.
Zhang Rui Speaks about the 3 Hong Kong Natives
Doo Hoi Kem becomes more mature at the 2018 Team World Cup. Zhang Rui, coach of the Hong Kong women's team, said Doo Hoi Kem took the initiative to help other players and encouraged her teammates to voice out in the preparation meeting before matches at 2018 Team World Cup. However, it would be better if Doo Hoi Kem could get rid of some of her immaturity in her daily life. One of the secrets coach Zhang Rui revealed is that Doo Hoi Kem loves to cry when she did not do well in training. Also, Doo Hoi Kem tends to perform better under pressure but she gets inconsistent with her training and World Tour. Zhang Rui believes the 21-year-old needs a few more years to work on her mentality and be more mature.
Lee Ho Ching is Zhang Rui's first student since 2009. Lee Ho Ching thinks she has changed a lot over the years. In the past, veterans Jiang Huajun and Tie Yana led the team to compete in competitions. Whereas in these 2 years, coaches ask Lee to take up more responsibility and lead the young players. She believes the biggest improvement she has made is her mental toughness and attitude towards table tennis. She explained she set a higher standard for herself in the last 2 years while in the days before the Rio Olympics she tends to get the job done without pushing herself harder. Her coach, Zhang Rui also agreed that Lee Ho Ching easily got satisfied in the past but is willing to take on more tasks in these 2 years as Lee realized her role and responsibility in the team. The anchor of the team, as well as the oldest member of the Team World Cup squad, did well at the 2018 Team World Cup. Lee Ho Ching was up in some crucial matches, including the 2 doubles and the third match in the quarterfinals which would decide whether the team would clinch a team medal in London. This had put immense pressure on her. Fortunately, Lee Ho Ching played well and helped the team clinched a bronze in London.
Soo Wai Yam Minnie played an important role in the quarterfinals at 2018 Team World Cup playing the position of the no.1 player. Some may question whether the lineup was too aggressive to have such a young and inexperienced player on a crucial spot but Zhang Rui has confidence in her players. Zhang Rui had considered Soo Wai Yam's previous performance against the Romanian player before making the bold move. She said outsiders would not understand the rationale behind. The arrangement might look aggressive but it's a rational decision and she had tried different lineups beforehand. Last but not least, Zhang Rui acknowledged the players for doing well in the match and made to the podium.
Convert Pressure to Motivation
In the program, the host asked, "It seems that more people follow the news of the men's team instead of the women's team. The most-interviewed Hong Kong table tennis player is Wong Chun Ting. Will winning the bronze medal increase the pressure and attention on the women's team? "
Coach Zhang Rui confidently replied it was more of a motivation rather than pressure. Regardless of the reports and comments, the team's main goal is to get the job done. After all, the team was not what people say they are. Since there is always pressure in training and competitions. They are used to it already. As long as they understand the reason for the pressure and handle it well, the pressure itself is not a big deal.
Managing the Hong Kong Women's Team
Zhang Rui thinks there isn't a particular athlete who standout as the anchor of the team. Instead, every player should take the initiative to be an integral part of the team and coaches should not pick a particular athlete to be the core of the team.Since Team Hong Kong is not as dominant as the Chinese team, everyone has to contribute and be united in the team event. Nonetheless, the success of Team China is due to the team effort but not a single athlete.
As a coach, she sees coaches have multiple-roles, especially for coaches of the women's team as girls are sensitive. She usually communicates with athletes after training while talking about technique in training. Communication is a key part of coaching. As long as the athletes trust you, they will listen to your words, said Zhang Rui.
Heading to Tokyo Olympics
It's almost the 10th year of Zhang Rui's coaching career. It's not easy that the athletes have achieved some good results over the years but she rather not to set concrete goals for the Tokyo Olympics. As the hard work will eventually pay off so train hard every day is more important than talking about goals. She said life must go on even if the team does not meet the 'concrete goals'. As long as they try their best and make improvements she will be happy with that.
As for short-term goals, Doo Hoi Kem wishes to win a team medal at the World Championships and Asian Games, especially after winning bronze at the Team World Cup which is a confidence boost for them. Lee Ho Ching's goal is to do her best at 2018 WTTC as it comes before the Asian Games. She said the team missed out the podium in 2016 WTTC, so they wanted to win a medal this year. She thought Team Hong Kong has the odds of winning a medal. Even though some do not think Team Hong Kong has the depth it used to have, the team has solid players who are capable of bringing the team a medal.
Potential Opponents at 2018 WTTC
Team Hong Kong is a young team and is lack of international experience. That's why it seems that Team Hong Kong goes neck and neck with teams like Chinese Taipei, Singapore and Romania etc. Yet Zhang Rui hopes others can find Team Hong Kong will standout in the coming 2 years.
Talking about the potential opponents, Zhang Rui would rank Team China first, following that is Japan and hopefully, Hong Kong could make the third place in terms of the current prowess of the team. Many may not find this sequence surprising but the athletes' preference on opponents are quite different within the team. Doo Hoi Kem finds it more comfortable playing against Asian players and players with inverted rubbers but not the choppers. On the other hand, Lee Ho Ching prefers to Europeans. Soo Wai Yam is less picky. She is new to the game and will try her best whoever the opponents are.
Listen to: RTHK: "Meng's Sports Weekly" by Xiao Meng (20180311)
Read: Hong Kong New Squad in Quest For Podium Finish in Halmstad
As the 2018 World Championships is approaching, I hope this interview comes just in time to help you understand more about the Hong Kong women's team which is the same squad of the bronze-medal-winning team at 2018 Team World Cup. Comments below and tell us your thoughts on this young and promising team!
They certainly did deliver on that promise - I was very impressed by the HK-team throughout the championship. As was stated in the interview, they didn't have that one obvious leading player, but they more than made up for it by getting the job done as a team. It is interesting to compare this to the men's team, where Wong Chun Ting took on a clear leading role, with his compatriots not really being able to follow (something which was clear in their match against Sweden). Most impressive, of course, was Soo Wai Yam's 3-0-victory against Ding Ning. There's a lot of promise and capacity in this team, which will probably be an interesting dark horse for many more championships to come.
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