Double happiness as squash aces open Hong Kong’s gold account
Joey Chan and Max Lee win singles titles at East Asian Games in Tianjin and now look forward to adding to their haul in team events
Hong Kong are on the board after winning their first two gold medals in squash at the East Asian Games in Tianjin yesterday.
Joey Chan Ho-ling drew first blood in the women’s final after a hard-earned 3-1 win over Li Dongjin of China at the Tianjin Sports Centre, followed by Max Lee Ho-yin’s straight-games victory over Huang Cheng-yao of Taiwan in the men’s event.
Chan was leading 2-0 before the mainlander clawed back one game, but the second seed, who repeatedly studied video of Li’s semi-final victory over Hong Kong’s top-seeded Annie Au Wing-chi the previous night, dug deep to hold her nerve before wrapping up the title with a 12-10, 11-5, 6-11, 11-9 victory.
It was the first gold medal for the 300-member Hong Kong delegation. As hosts of the 2009 Games, the squash team made a clean sweep of all seven gold medals, but this year only four golds are on offer in this sport.
A delighted Chan said the victory was a huge relief.
“I haven’t done very well so far this year with a lot of ups and downs, and all I wanted was to win the gold medal to prove myself,” said the 25-year-old, who won two golds at the last Games in the team and doubles events.
“But I wasn’t really thinking about winning Hong Kong’s first gold because Li put me under a lot of pressure. She beat our top seed [Au] in the semi-finals and continued her good form today with a lot of support from the crowd but, fortunately, I was able to hang in there and finish the job.”
