World Lacrosse women’s U20 championship: doing better than last time is Hong Kong’s target

City’s team will rely on home crowd as they face strong England and Japan in group stage, with powerhouses US and rivals Canada lying in wait

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China and Hong Kong (in white) played out a friendly match at the Hong Kong Football Club on Tuesday. Photo: Hong Kong, China Lacrosse Association

Published: 7:30am, 14 Aug 2024

Progress is key for Hong Kong as they look to benefit from a home crowd at the World Lacrosse Women’s Under-20 Championship this week, said the side’s head coach as big hitters the United States, Canada and Australia rolled into town to fight for the title.

The championship, which is making its Asia debut, opens with South Korea against Chinese Taipei at 9am Sham Shui Po Sports Ground on Thursday, and runs until August 24.

The opening ceremony will take place at Mong Kok Stadium at 5pm the same day, before Hong Kong take on Jamaica at 7pm.

“I think it’s very exciting to be able to host the World Championship in Hong Kong. It’s like a dream,” Gemini Fan Tak-kwan, the Hong Kong head coach, said. “The goal for Hong Kong is to try to beat our ranking of five years ago, so we have to better 12th place.

“I think having the home crowd backing us is going to give us a very big advantage.”

From left, Scarlett Cowley, Gemini Fan and Shamdasani Simran are looking forward to playing at home. Photo: Sun Yeung

Hong Kong have been placed in Pool D with world No 4 England, world No 5 Japan, Ireland and the Jamaicans.