World Table Tennis Championships: Hong Kong medal hopes Wong Chun-ting and Doo Hoi-kem get promising draw
- The world No 6 mixed doubles pair, who took bronze at the 2015 and 2017 championships, will not face a China duo before the semi-finals
- Fast-improving women’s doubles pairing of Doo and Zhu Chengzhu are likely to face world No 1s Wang Manyu and Sun Yingsha of China in last 16
Hong Kong table tennis pair Wong Chun-ting and Doo Hoi-kem have been handed what their coach called a “decent” mixed doubles draw for the World Table Tennis Championships, which start in Durban on Saturday.
The No 6 seeds will not face a pairing from China, Japan, South Korea or Taiwan before the semi-finals, if they make it that far.
“The draw for them is decent, although those playing in the World Championships are all top players, so there are no easy games,” said Hong Kong’s men’s team coach Liu Guodong, who is still at home awaiting a visa to travel to South Africa.
“Wong and Doo have a chance to challenge in that draw – a top-eight spot or even a medal is achievable.”
The Hongkongers will start their campaign in the round of 64 against Italian duo John Oyebode and Gaia Monfardini.
Awaiting them next will be an encounter with the winner of Austria’s Karoline Mischek and Alexander Chen versus Hungarian pair Nandor Ecseki and Dora Madarasz.
