Luis Liu meets Hong Kong's Olympics hope, table tennis ace and world sixth-seed Wong Chun-ting, in the lead-up to his departure for the big event.

It was only a couple of months ago that a home-grown Hong Kong table tennis player made it into the venerated circle among the world's Top Ten Table Tennis Players. And now 25-year-old Wong Chun-ting is bound for the Olympics.

It was at the Dubai Asian Games, back in May, that Wong took the big jump. He won the bronze medal in Dubai and took his place on the winners' podium with two of the world's greatest players, Zhang Jike and Xu Xin, members of the Chinese national team. The bronze left him at No 8 in the International Table Tennis Federation rankings.

"I myself was stunned by the magical journey," Wong told China Daily.

He hopes Rio will be an even bigger breakthrough. He's seeded sixth, behind Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Japan's Mitutani Jun and Taiwan's Chuang Chih-yuan, all of whom he's beaten in earlier competitions. Two of the top Chinese national team players also are seeded higher.

In Rio, the Hong Kong table tennis team will compete in all four table tennis events - the singles and team competitions - at Riocentro Pavilion 3, from Aug 6 to 17.

Hong Kong's home-grown table tennis star Wong Chun-ting aims for a medal for the city in the upcoming Olympics Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ROY LIU / China Daily

He's not making predictions. He just keeps training, certain that his efforts somehow will pay off as they always have in the past. He does admit however he wants a medal - not only for himself but for his team's former top player, and Wong's "big brother", Tang Peng.

Tang, now 35, was runner-up at the 2003 Asian Championships when he was still a member of the Chinese National Team. He then became a core member of the Hong Kong team, also becoming Wong's mentor, big brother and roommate, after Wong joined the team. The young hopeful says he got even more instructions from Tang than from his coaches. "As long as Brother Peng stays on the team, he is always the leader," Wong said.

Given his newly established stature however, it's obvious that it's Wong who's getting all the attention these days. Media reps rush to the Hong Kong Sports Institute to watch him train for the biggest challenge of his career. Kids training at the Hang Sang Table Tennis Academy peep through the glass and wave shyly as he passes by. He cares about these kids and their future in the sport. One of his ambitions is to show Hong Kong's young players who love the sport - and to reassure their parents that home-grown Hong Kong players can reach the top of the world.

Late bloomer

He recalls that his career in the sport started much in the same way as the youngsters just starting out today. Most players who make it into the pro ranks usually start playing when they are around 5. That helps them build the "muscle memory" that will make them strong competitors later on. Wong was late in getting professional training. He was already 9, and the sessions were infrequent, maybe once or twice a week.

"Everything started with pure interest," he said. The first time he grabbed a paddle was at the housing estate where he lived - where there was a cement table in the common area. He was only 4 and really wasn't tall enough, so he had to stand on tiptoe to play. That made his ankles hurt, but he kept playing every day.

"That's probably when I found out I love this game," Wong recalled.

His mom and dad, like the majority of Hong Kong parents, wanted their son to focus on his academic studies. Wong would talk about his own dreams of being a professional table tennis player. His parents let him enjoy his fantasy, but seemed to treat it as a pipe dream. They might want him to stick with his first dream job - written in his homework - a police officer.

For whatever else may have presented itself as a future option, he still loved the sport. It gave him self-confidence and just as importantly, he said reflectively, the intense competition gave him excitement. He quietly hung on to his dream of turning pro someday.

"Fortunately, a table tennis player doesn't need to talk that much," He laughed. "I give all I have on the court and present the audience the best I can do. That may be the best way I express myself," Wong said.

He joined the city's top teenage table tennis training camp - the Hang Seng Table Tennis Academy, at 12. If he'd waited another year, he would have been too old. During a pickup game for an Asian youth tournament, he placed fifth. Only the top four qualified, but one of the players had to drop out, so Wong was selected as a last minute replacement.

"I was lucky," Wong said, "or maybe my efforts in training paid off." Playing with top Asian youth players reaffirmed Wong's dream to turn pro. He waited until he'd finished high school. At 18 his fellow competitors already had amassed years of experience ahead of him.

As a late-starter, all he could do was take it slow and steady, like a snail, always moving forward, never looking back. Chief Coach Chan Kong-wah knew that choosing a late-comer like Wong was risky. "Ninety percent of the people around me thought he had no solid foundation," Chan recalled, "but I saw qualities of a successful athlete in him." Seven years later, the "blank slate" that came to Chan late in life, had been filled in with an array of medals and a placement among the world's top 10.

The last time the Hong Kong table tennis team stood on the podium at the Olympics was when Li Ching and Ko Lai-chak, Hong Kong's famous "Pingpong Twins", won Silver in Men's Doubles in Athens 2004.

In London 2012 Olympics, the men's team was beaten out by Germany of the Bronze.

During a break at a photo session with China Daily, Wong stared at his paddle, a special release bearing the name of the top Chinese national team player Zhang Jike. "When can I have a paddle in my name?" "After Rio?" "Let's see," he replied.

Contact the writer at

luisliu@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 07/20/2016 page8)