Lam Siu-hang last Hongkonger standing at Asian Cup table tennis before bowing out
Lam later loses in quarter-final to Japan’s Tomakazu Harimoto as defending champions from mainland China stay on track to retain titles
World No 113 Lam Siu‑hang upset a Chinese player ranked 101 spots higher to become the last Hongkonger remaining at the 35th ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup table tennis in Haikou on Saturday.
Four Hong Kong players in the men’s and women’s singles tournament made it past the group stages on Friday, but only Lam survived the round after beating China’s Xiang Peng 3-2 (11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 13-11) in a tight last-16 contest at the Haikou Wuyuan River Gymnasium in Hainan province.
However, Lam, 29, later lost in the quarter-final to Japan’s Tomakazu Harimoto, the world’s fifth-ranked player, losing 4-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-6, 11-4) on Saturday night.
Out of the three Hongkongers who lost their matches, the most surprising result was Wong Chun-ting’s 3-0 (11-9, 11-6, 11-9) loss to Chinese Taipei’s world No 106 Chang Yu-An, who is ranked 60 places below him.
The 19-year-old Chang, however, maintained his giant-killing momentum in the last eight when he edged past Japan’s 26th-ranked Yukiya Uda 4-3.
Chang will now face world No 1 and defending champion Wang Chuqin for a place in the final.