Hong Kong's girls' squash team claimed silverThe girls' team lost 2-0 to Malaysia in the gold medal clash. Rachel Mae Arnold beat Choi Uen-shan 5-11, 11-7, 13-11, 12-10, while Pansy Chan Pui-hei had a repeat of her gold-medal match in the individual competition, with Vanessa Raj Gnanasigamani winning 11-6, 8-11, 11-7, 11-3.
The Hong Kong boys' team lost 2-1 in the semi-finals to the Independent Olympic Athletes team, which is formed by Indian athletes, but shared the bronze with Jordan, the other semi-finals loser. The Hong Kong team was made up of Alvin Yuen Tsun-hei, Chris Lo Cheuk-hin and Alex Lau Tsz-kwan. Alvin had won an individual bronze on Thursday, so the Hong Kong squash delegation finished with five medals - two silver and three bronze.
... while the boys (left) ended up with a bronze in Nanjing.
In all, Hong Kong athletes won 20 medals - two gold, five silver and 13 bronze.
Uen-shan, 17, cried right after her match. "I knew my match could be crucial, as the second match was going to be close. I put some pressure on Pansy, forcing her to win to keep us in the competition," she said.
With Malaysia winning both matches, the third one - which would have involved Cobie Chan Ho-ching, a Form Four student from Bishop Hall Jubilee School - wasn't needed. Cobie, at 16 the youngest of the three players for Hong Kong, couldn't hold her emotions and also cried.
"I wanted to play in the final so badly. I had gained so much confidence in the group stage and in the quarter-final and semi-final of the team event as I won all my matches. I haven't played against my opponent, Celine Yeap Shu-wan, and I thought we both would have had a chance to help our teams win the gold medal," said Cobie. "It's hard for me to accept the fact that I didn't even have a chance to contribute today."
Pansy, 17, also had a difficult time with her emotions after her match and didn't attend the press conference. In an interview later, she said that despite the defeat, she felt better than she did in her previous encounter with Vanessa.
"Today, I felt less pressure in the team final against Vanessa, and played at my normal level," said Pansy.
Malaysia's boys' team defeated the Indian team for the gold.