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Lars Hamer

A battered and bruised Hong Kong handball side kept some of their remaining powder dry for Friday’s National Games quarter-finals as they lost to Beijing at Kai Tak Arena on Tuesday.
Having already guaranteed third spot in Group A, the injury-hit hosts fielded a younger, less experienced team to rest players ahead of Friday.
They proceeded to lose 35-19, and captain Freddie Tse Wing-fai said he initially felt nervous for his young teammates but praised their performance.
“The level of Beijing is higher than ours; they are not our target,” Tse said. “So we tried to save our energy … we can’t play a high-intensity match four days in a row.
“I think today the performance was good. This is the first National Games for some of our players, and maybe the first time playing at home, in front of their families. I felt a bit nervous for them.
“Also, young players were playing in different roles than they are used to, like some players had to step into centre back today – it’s a challenge for them, but it was good.”

With some fixtures still to be played on Wednesday, Hong Kong have already made sure of third place, meaning they will face whoever finishes second in Group B. Tse said he considered it “70 per cent likely” that they would take on Shanxi in the last eight.
“They are really good,” Tse said. “During the last few National Games, or during training camps in Beijing, we have played a lot with Shanxi. They are the stronger team, and actually, we don’t want to play them, because they are more experienced than us.
“But actually, I think if we meet them in the quarter-finals, I am confident we can win.”
Hong Kong started their Group A campaign with a 34-29 loss to Anhui on Saturday, but recovered to beat Shanghai 21-20 the following day. On Monday, they again fielded a less experienced side to swat aside Macau 24-15.
“I don’t think we needed to go all out against Beijing in this match, so overall, we did fairly well,” Hui Man-pong, the Hong Kong coach, said.
“Our usual strengths lie in running, fast breaks and quickly transitioning from defence to offence, but we couldn’t execute that today.”
Hui said his squad were dealing with several injuries, which meant that players who might otherwise have been rested, including Tse, had to play.
“We have four or five players dealing with quite serious injuries,” Hui said. “For instance, Toby Lin Yun-to has some inflammation in his hand, and Eddy Ip Kwun-hung, a key defender, feels stiffness in many of his joints.
“We originally wanted to let [Tse] rest more today, but we had no choice in the second half and had to keep him on the court a bit longer.
“Every match after advancing from the group stage requires our full effort. If we win the next one, we’ll make it to the semi-finals. Fortunately, we have two days to rest after this. I believe the team’s condition will be better in the next match.”
The final group games start at 2pm on Wednesday. First up will be Shanghai against Macau, followed by Anhui versus Beijing. The last two matches see Shanxi taking on Guangdong before Jiangsu go up against Shandong.
The top four teams from each group of five qualify for the quarter-finals. The first-placed team in each group will face the side that finished fourth in the other, and second will play third.
The tournament features around 180 players from 10 teams across the mainland, along with Hong Kong and Macau.


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Inexperienced side beaten by Beijing but captain and coach confident of being in better shape for last eight on Friday


Inexperienced side beaten by Beijing but captain and coach confident of being in better shape for last eight on Friday.


Kai Tak Sports Park

National Games: Hong Kong’s young handball players step up as hosts eye semi-finals

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Inexperienced side beaten by Beijing but captain and coach confident of being in better shape for last eight on Friday

Inexperienced side beaten by Beijing but captain and coach confident of being in better shape for last eight on Friday