Table tennis players Li Ching and Ko Lai Chak won the first Olympic medal for Chinese Hong Kong in Athens Saturday 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 medal since 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.

(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2004)