Table tennis players Li Ching and Ko Lai Chak won here Saturday the first
Olympic medal for Chinese Hong Kong since the former British-occupied territory
returned to China on July 1, 1997.
Despite their 2-4 loss to Chinese ace pair Ma Lin/Chen Qi in the men's
doubles final in the table tennis tournament of the 2004Athens Olympic Games, Li
and Ko made history with their silver as Hong Kong athletes had had a no-medal
record in Sydney 2000.
"I feel very excited," said Timothy Fok, president of the Hong Kong Olympic
Committee, who appeared at a press conference in the Galatsi Olympic Hall in
northwest Athens, venue for the Olympic table tennis tournament.
"It is great that Hong Kong finally won its first Olympic medalsince its
return to China, and I hope this will add much impetus to the sports development
in Hong Kong," said Fok.
The press conference was held for the medalists immediately after the medal
awarding ceremony.
"I feel some regret for losing the match and the gold, but we have tried our
best and even played better than in our training, and we have attained our
goal," said the 28-year-old Ko.
Journalists from Hong Kong bombarded their sports heroes with questions, and
insisted they replied in Cantonese, the local dialect in some regions of
southern China including Hong Kong.
"I think I played very well in the final, and I have played even better than
my normal standards," said Li.
But he said that the umpire's ruling of two service violations on him in the
first two sets had somewhat affected him and made him serve the last two balls
in the last game directly into the net.
The Chinese gold medalist Ma Lin also praised his rivals for their excellent
performance on the court.
"It was a very tough match and they had kept fighting till the last ball,"
said Ma at the press conference. "We know the Chinese Hong Kong team has some of
the best men's doubles pairs in the world, and we have made full preparations
for today's match."
Timothy Fok said that he hoped the victory of Li/Ko at the Olympic Games
would encourage more youth in Hong Kong to love sports and participate in
sports, so as to bring Hong Kong sports to a new level.
"I do hope that I will see the regional flag of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region raised again at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games," he added.
Hong Kong became a special administrative region of China following its 1997
return.
Lee Lai-shan, a women's sailing athlete, won Hong Kong's first Olympic gold
in Atlanta 1996, one year before Hong Kong returned to its
motherland.
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