World Table Tennis Championships: ‘crazy’ upset as Hong Kong’s Lam Siu-hang knocks out Mattias Falck
- ‘The outcome was totally unexpected,’ Hong Kong coach Leung Chu-yan admits after stunning first-round result
- City’s medal hopefuls Wong Chun-ting and Doo Hoi-kem progress in mixed doubles and in their respective singles
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Hong Kong’s rank outsider Lam Siu-hang produced a “crazy” performance to beat former runner-up Mattias Falck at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships in Durban.
A stunning 4-1 victory by the world No 135 in the men’s singles opening round on Saturday delivered a huge shock by sending the 2019 finalist home.
“His performance was crazy, the outcome was totally unexpected,” the Hong Kong men’s coach Leung Chu-yan said. “The World Championships is a knockout tournament, so anything can happen and this is the beauty of sport.
“Falck’s ranking [No 26] is higher, so this proved [Lam] has the ability to deliver even at the world’s top events. His technical and tactical preparation was really good.
“The fact that he could adjust himself after losing in the men’s doubles speaks volumes of his character.”
Lam and partner Ng Pak-nam had fallen at the first hurdle after losing three games on the trot in a 3-2 reverse to Belgian duo Florent Lambiet and Martin Allegro earlier on Saturday.
But the 26-year-old recovered to record the eye-catching result of the opening day, an 11-9, 4-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8 defeat of Sweden’s Falck.
Separately, the city’s top players Wong Chun-ting and Doo Hoi-kem came through unscathed in their respective singles first-round encounters as they swept past their opponents with ease.
Ranked No 6 in the world as a pair, they also advanced to the second round of the mixed doubles, dispatching Italian duo John Oyebode and Gala Monfardini 3-0.
Lee Ho-ching, however, has had a tournament to forget after crashing out in the women’s singles and the mixed doubles.
The 30-year-old and Ho Kwan-kit lost 3-1 to South Korean duo Cho Dae-seong and Kim Nayeong.
Lee, ranked 52nd, went on to lose 4-2 to world No 203 Hanna Haponova of Ukraine in the singles.
Ho later lost in the men’s singles on Sunday, suffering a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Taiwan’s Yang Tzu-yi.
Zhu Chengzu, on the other hand, came from behind to defeat Offiong Edem of Nigeria 4-1 and progress to the second round in the women’s singles.
