Singapore Smash: Hong Kong table tennis veteran Wong, Lam through to main draw
Tournament is without big names Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng but China still expected to dominate
Wong Chun-ting edged out fellow Hongkonger Baldwin Chan in a nail-biting 3-2 win to reach the main draw of the men’s singles at the Singapore Smash tournament on Saturday.
Having not played each other in any official matches on the tour before, the 33-year-old Wong took the first game before his 20-year-old rival bounced back to take the next two games.
But world No 40 Wong used all his experience to dispatch an opponent ranked 45 places below him, winning 11-8, 3-11, 8-11, 11-3, 11-3 in 31 minutes.
In women’s qualifying, Hong Kong’s Lam Yee-lok finally got the better of Italy’s Gaia Monfardini after a 41-minute battle, ultimately prevailing 11-2, 5-11, 9-11, 11-4, 12-10.
World No 112 Lam will join compatriots Doo Hoi-kem and Zhu Chengzhu as Hong Kong’s representatives in the women’s singles, while Macau’s Chu Yuling, who previously played for China and was a former world No 1, also emerged victorious after a convincing 3-0 win over Suthasini Sawettabut of Thailand.
The qualifying battles were merely a precursor to the bigger ones to follow, when Chinese pair Wang Chuqin and Lin Shidong will be among the favourites for the men’s title in the absence of Ma Long and Fan Zhendong, both of who are missing because of their ongoing row with table tennis bosses.
