News

The junior girls' team, comprising Au Wing-chi (16), Chan Ho-ling (17), Chiu Ka-kei (17) and Leung Shin-nga (16), returned with triumph in the World Junior Squash Championships held in Belgium last month after defeating the top seed Egypt 2-1 in the finals – a historical world junior title for Hong Kong squash.

All team members are too excited to win the first ever world junior team champion for Hong Kong. The girls couldn't believe but still felt glad and proud of themselves in triumphing over the defending champion. The HKSI Head Squash Coach Tony Choi appreciates the efforts of the team, saying, "They have potentials and performed equally well in the games, which earned them the world junior champion title. With the continuous support of their parents and schools, I believe the girls will become brilliant players if they keep up with the good work in the sport."

The team thanks their coaches and parents for guiding and supporting them to success in the sport. In addition to the contributions of Head Coach Tony Choi, squash coaches Dick Leung and Yan Tsz-keung also play an important role in helping the juniors excel. Besides, the comprehensive support provided by the HKSI including training facilities, strength and conditioning programme, sports medicine, as well as sports science including psychological stress release are also highly appreciated by the players whose performance level has been elevated gradually over the years.

Chan Ho-ling, a student of the Jockey Club Ti-I College, played the first match in the finals and won the game with courage and confidence, getting off to a good start for the team. Although Hong Kong team lost the second match, Chiu Ka-kei won the last critical match and helped Hong Kong get the final victory. Chiu, who will continue Form 6 studies in the Belilios Public School, stated that they had less pressure when competing with top seed Egypt, which was the crux of success. She didn't force herself to win but tried to maintain consistent performance throughout the competition, and consequently, she made it.

In preparation of this year's world junior championships, the team started to undergo intensive training two years ago. Tony said that they had been traveling to Europe where the junior girls' team could have more chances to compete with overseas players. In addition, all team members are talented and hardworking, and the Head Coach believes this is the main reason they achieve remarkable progress from the 7^th place two years ago to the world junior champion today.

"Never say die" is the motto of the team. The four promising players said together that they would keep working hard and set sight at winning the honour again in the coming Asian Junior Championships and World Junior Championships to be held in Hong Kong in 2007.