Alex Lau, Hong Kong’s top squash player, has learned a lot from a lifetime in the sport, but says he is still evolving
- The world top-50 player, who plays at the World Championships next month, says the game has made him mentally stronger
- He believes he will still be around for the next Olympics, but says he will need to keep evolving to keep the next generations at bay
One could easily imagine one is talking to a thinker, or even a philosopher, when speaking to the city’s top-ranked men’s squash player, Alex Lau Tsz-kwan.
The 28-year-old Hongkonger, who has spent his past 22 years – and counting – playing the sport that made him a world top-50 player, admitted most of his gains playing the now-Olympic sport are on the “mental” side.
“The first is learning how to live with failure, and then it is persistence and the way I think,” the two-time Hong Kong champion said. “It is because squash, personally, is a strategic game, a battle of wits for me.
“It’s like playing chess except you need to think of countermeasures in a flash. Does your opponent react in an expected manner? If he doesn’t, how much time do you need to alter your tactics?”
From those days of growing up and struggling with his academic results in Yuen Long, Lau has travelled far and around the world since becoming a Hong Kong Sports Institute athlete at the age of 16.
The world No 48, who will play at the World Championships in Cairo next month, said the past decade or so had taught him a lot.
