Hong Kong Delegation Started Training to Prepare for the Asian Para Games
The Hong Kong Delegation arrived Jakarta, Indonesia yesterday (2 October) and started training today, with the aims of familiarizing the athletes with competition venues and enhancing their condition to achieve outstanding results.
Badminton team won a gold medal at the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Para Games but got disappointing results at the 2014 event. Head Coach CHENG Fai Yin Ally was confident that the team could perform better this time with the presence of CHAN Ho Yuen, ranked world number two in WH2 (wheelchair sport class), WONG Chun Yim and CHU Man Kai, ranked world number three and six in SS6 (short stature sport class) respectively. WONG and CHU were the first SS6 players from Hong Kong to join the Asian Para Games and their target was getting the entry ticket to the finals.
In addition, Head Coach CHENG remarked that the team joined a 10-day intensive training in Malaysia last week. The athletes’ preparation had been enhanced by the consecutive training sessions, opportunity to train with former national player from Malaysia and similar weather condition compared with Indonesia. The team simulated the competition environment of Istora Senayan during the training and expected a fast adaptation at the Games.
Table tennis team also started the training today. With the remarkable results of three bronze attained at the Games in 2014, Head Coach ZHANG Jia expected an improvement this year, “Our target is capturing two to three medals which are not limited to bronze, but the team will face some challenges in Men’s TT9 Team event as it has been combined with TT10.” Head Coach ZHANG added that the athletes showed tiredness upon arrival. Their condition had improved gradually and the upcoming trainings would further enhance their performance.
Tenpin bowling team participated in various tournaments in the last two months to familiarize with the competition form and aimed at returning to the podium at the Games. Head Coach CHEUNG Wing Kit even led the team to train at the well-equipped competition venue before, and he believed that they had a comprehensive preparation but the results depended on their performance.