The Aus are a close-knit family, but a teenager can be pushed only so far. A photographer asks Leo Au Chun-min, 17, to move closer to his mother. He alters his stance and is now a mere inch closer to his mother, Chan Yuk-ling, who is standing between her youngest son and his older sister, Annie Au Wing-chi.
But the new pose fails to please the photographer. 'Put your arm around her,' he cajoles Leo. And to further plead his case, he makes the action with his arm. Chan laughs and Leo relents. The photograph is taken in that cheesy, Christmas portrait kind of way.
If Leo minded, his mother did not. Her two youngest children are Hong Kong's top-ranked junior squash players and contrary to the all-too-common, school-first mentality among Hong Kong parents, Chan takes the contrary approach. She has encouraged her children to make the most of their talent; the decision to support her children has brought her closer to them.
'It's a chance to spend time with them, some time to talk to them,' Chan says, aware that many teenagers are not so inclined to be with their parents.
Annie, 18, won a silver medal in last week's under-19 British Junior Open and Leo finished seventh in the boys' under-19 category.
That Annie and Leo even started to play squash is unusual. The two, students at Jockey Club Ti-I College, were recruited to the sport in their latter years of primary school. They did not come from an athletic background: their parents are not squash players and neither are their two older siblings. But even though they had the typical beginners' experience with squash, their talent soon began to emerge.
