Success came in pairs for Hong Kong at the 1st National Youth Games in Fujian last October, with both the women’s tennis doubles and women’s badminton doubles teams winning the bronze medal.
Tennis doubles partners Venia Yeung and Claudia Ng may only be 15, but they have already forged a formidable on court partnership based on a mutual passion for the sport.
“I like playing tennis, when I am injured and need to take a short break, I feel unhappy and miss the court a lot,” Venia said.
“I really love the game and every time I go on court, I give it my all and I want to work hard, I want to win and I just really like the feeling of holding my racket,” Claudia added.
It was by no means an easy road to the winner's podium. Their dedication was tested during a quarter final match against the Fuzhou team while Venia was nursing a broken left wrist.
“I could not play backhand, so Claudia had to cover my backhand most of the time,” Venia explained.
To accommodate Venia’s injury, the pair had to change their game strategy during what turned out to be a tough, three-hour match.
“We did a good job of covering each other through those circumstances and having to adjust quickly, but we won a few matches and that boosted our confidence”, Claudia recalled.
That win against the Fuzhou team got them into the semi-finals and eventually earned them a spot on the podium.
Courtside chemistry
The talented duo say the key to a good doubles partnership is to be friends off court and supportive partners on it.
“On court, Venia encourages me to do better, to do my best, while off court she takes care of me and watches over me,” Claudia explained.
“We are like sisters now,” Venia added.
They hope to play just as well at the Junior Fed Cup in Sri Lanka this month, adding that they aim to emulate the success of the game’s top players including Romanian tennis ace Simona Halep and Chinese Grand Slam champion Li Na.
“My favourite tennis player is Li Na. She is the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam title and I want to be the second her,” Venia noted.
Claudia added: “My favourite tennis player is Simona Halep because although she is not tall, she is able to win against taller or stronger opponents than her and she made a lot sacrifices to get to where she is now, so I really look up to her and hope to be like her.”
Perfect partnership
Another talented doubles pairing of 17-year-olds Lianne Yeung and Yoyo Ng also took home the bronze at the Games, but their win was on the badminton court.
“We did not expect to win medals at the Games because our opponents were so strong,” Yoyo said.
Their first match was against the Shanghai team, the nation’s third best youth team.
“One coach told us that we did not stand a chance of defeating them, but we did! We could not believe it when we won,” Lianne recalled.
Their contrasting playing styles made for the perfect partnership. Yoyo’s controlled game complementing Lianne’s offensive game.
“I am usually the attacker because I am stronger and I like to smash,” Lianne noted.
“I have good control during the game, so the coach thought we would make a good pairing since we can cover each other,” Yoyo added.
Lianne and Yoyo have been doubles partners since 2013. Their coach He Yiming said they did remarkably well at the Games, considering the stiff competition from the nation’s top teams.
“It is difficult to win at such a young age on the Mainland because the competition level is so high, so it is a confidence boost because when they are older, they will be facing the same group of players. I am sure they can achieve even better results in their future matches.”
Winning combination
On and off court, Lianne and Yoyo are practically inseparable. Not only do they train together, but they study at the same school and are even in the same class.
"We do not have much time for entertainment because we finish training after 8pm and need to rest, so we dine out together and look for good eateries," Lianne said.
That closeness has given them the ability to read each other’s moves during matches and move as one unit.
Both young athletes picked up a badminton racket when they were still in kindergarten. For Lianne, whose mother is a badminton coach, it seemed as if she was born to play the sport.
“I am the youngest in my family and they all play badminton so I love it too. My mother lets me play but she wants me to continue studying as well, so that I can get a sports-related job in the future.”
Yoyo started off as a dancer and was also influenced by her family.
“My uncle taught me to play badminton when I was younger and I discovered I was more passionate about the sport than dancing”.
The talented duo are now training for this year’s BWF World Junior Championships to be held in Spain and are already looking beyond that. They hope to win the biggest prize of all: a medal at the 2020 Olympic Games.
