A confident Annie Au Wing-chi is aiming for a top-five squash ranking after breaking into the world's best 10 last month.
The 22-year-old, who won two silver medals at the Guangzhou Asian Games last year, was named the Most Valuable Athlete by Hong Kong Squash when it celebrated its 50th anniversary yesterday.
Her No 10 world ranking is also the highest achieved by any Hong Kong squash player.
'The award is a big honour and recognition for my hard work,' said Au, who delayed her studies at Polytechnic University and turned to full-time training before the Guangzhou Games to achieve better results. 'Reaching the top 10 is a milestone in my career, but I won't be content with this.
'The competition is very keen among the elite players, especially when you have to beat the tougher and stronger Western players to improve your rankings, but give me three or four years, I can be in the world's top five.'
Rebecca Chiu Wing-yin, who retired after the Guangzhou Asian Games, was the first member of the Hong Kong Squash Hall of the Fame. Chiu won the only Asian Games squash gold medal for Hong Kong when she defeated Nicol David at the 2002 Pusan Games. She also reached 13th in the world in 2007, the highest for a Hong Kong player at that time.
