Table Tennis is one of Hong Kong's most popular sports and one of the strongest sports of the HK team. The greatest achievement of the HK Table Tennis Team was a Men's Doubles Silver Olympic Medal in Athens 2004.
Although considered as one leading teams in the world, the HK table tennis team has come a long way, and has been experiencing fluctuations in its performance in the recent years.
As the International Table Tennis Federation or the ITTF imposes restrictions against import players (HK's main players were mostly from the mainland then) several years ago, the future of the HK Table Tennis Team is dimmed as it seemed to be an impossible task to train HongKong locals to be the successors of a strong team. In a few years, many of these senior players have already retired. The effect was evident; the women's team quickly lost their role as being the main competitor to the team of China, surrendering the usual runner-up positions in World Team Championships for a semi-final finish in the succeeding championships. The men's team was gradually fading away in the world stage, suffering continuous defeats against other superior teams.
Training a local born athlete is a tremendous task, given the small population of Hong Kong, compared to those of the other table tennis powerhouses such as China, Germany, Japan, and South Korea. As most players of the previous generations had their foundations built in mainland, the local born player has to literally start from scratch.
Training a local athlete is already a challenging; finding an athlete who is willing to give up his studies to focus on table tennis is almost impossible, given the social expectations on the Hong Kong children. At the age 15 (considered late already for table tennis), Lee Ho Ching gave up her studies in a premium high school to pursue a table tennis career; she has a mountain to climb to restore Hong Kong's glory. Her junior years (until 18 years old) can't be considered very successful, although she pulled some big upsets on a few occasions but also went through some big setbacks. In 2010, the HK Women Table Tennis Team failed to win a medal at the World Team Championships, arousing doubts for the future.
2012. All teams are preparing for the London Olympics. The 19-year old Lee Ho Ching is chosen to fill in the 3rd spot for the HK Women's Team. Her lack of experience almost jeopardized her qualification for the Olympics, as she was only able to qualify in the Final Olympic Qualifications (Asian Qualifications were held in Hong Kong). The Hong Kong Women's Team lost to South Korea in the Quarterfinals in the Team Event, thwarting again the team's medal hopes, though the Men's Team has another story to tell. The result may not be very glorious, but Lee Ho Ching that playing at the Olympics equipped her with experience on how to compete at big competitions. She would later on finish the year 2012 on a high note. During the Olympics, Lee Ho Ching is lowly ranked at 89, far beyond to join the rankings of the elite.
2013. The fruits of hard training are starting to bear. Lee Ho Ching steered Hong Kong for a semi-final spot at the World Team Cup, losing to China for a final spot. Later at the Asian Championships, she put HK on the final after doing impressively against both South Korea and Singapore. She herself has done impressive performances at the Korean Open and German Open, where she made it to the semi-finals, only losing to the eventual champions. In the process, Lee Ho Ching have defeated a lot of notable players, including Fukuhara Ai the Japanese prodigy and her very own senior teammate, Jiang Huajun. Finally the so-called successor of the team is a concrete successor. As mentioned Lee was ranked at 89 at the Olympics, she ended the year 2013 ranked at 23. Hopes that HK would be gradually getting back at the usual spot is awakened.
2014. Lee Ho Ching left the U21 age bracket. Is she ready for the big stage? Yes, she has to.
Men's Team:
TANG Peng 唐鵬
JIANG Tianyi 江天一
LEUNG Chu Yan 梁柱恩
CHEUNG Yuk 張鈺
WONG Chun Ting 黃鎮廷
HUNG Ka Tak 孔嘉德
LAM Siu Hang 林兆恆
LI Hon Ming 李漢銘
MAK King Ho 麥景皓
Jeffrey KWAN Man Ho 關文皓
Women's Team 女隊：
JIANG Huajun 姜華珺
LEE Ho Ching 李皓晴
TIE Yana 帖雅娜
Karen DOO Hoi Kem 杜凱琹
NG Wing Nam 吳穎嵐
GUAN Meng Yuan 管夢圓
Minnie SOO Wai Yam 蘇慧音
Natalie LAM Yee Lok 林依諾
Christine LI Ching Wan 李清韻
MAK Tze Wing 麥子詠
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