【Sports News】[The 2019-2020 Hong Kong Schools Elite Badminton Competition] concluded at Tsing Yi Sports Centre today (30th). Cheng Sin Yan of Diocesan Girls' College faced Liao Hao Yan of Heep Yunn Secondary School in the final of the women's singles match, and defended her title with a 2-1 win after a roller-coaster ride that saw her take the lead, fall behind, and then save four consecutive winning points. In the Boys' Singles, the Diocesan Boys' School's Ng Ying Lun won the title for the second consecutive year with no loss.

The Schools Badminton Classic Individual Tournament has been postponed due to a wave of cancellations, and will finally be completed before 2019. The focus of the secondary school girls' singles was on the Lady Battalion's Cheng Sin-yan, who was the top seed in the last edition and progressed to the last 8. She first defeated Luk Sze-wing of Tak Mong School in two straight games 21:14, 21:10, and then beat Koo Ka-ling of Chinese Missionary Alliance Lau Wing-sang Secondary School 2-1 (21:23, 21:5, 21:6) to advance to the final today.

In the last step of his title defence, he was challenged by Andrew Liao Ho-en. It did not take much time for JEONG to take the lead in the first set with 21:9, and he also took the lead in the second set for most of the time. However, Liao Ho-en scored 5 consecutive points at the end of the set, and equalised the set with 21:18. In the early part of the final set, both players were ahead of each other. Zheng Shan-En opened up a 5-point gap in the middle of the set, but suddenly made a series of errors and Liao Hao-En scored 10 points to take the lead to 20:16. However, JEONG Sin-eun saved 4 points in a row to force the match into a "tricky time", and finally won the final set 23:21 to defend his title 2:1.

Zheng Shan-En concluded the match by saying that his mentality was the key to victory: "In the second set, my opponent changed his style of play and adapted to my tactics, which made me unable to perform. In the third set, when I was down 16:20, I just wanted to play well and enjoy the match, not to put too much pressure on myself, and tried my best to be calm and minimise my mistakes, and that's why I was able to win. Despite her calm performance, the Form 5 player is still happy to be in the backseat again and will aim for a third consecutive victory in the coming year. Cheng will also join her teammates in the Hong Kong and Kowloon D1 Schools Competition later this year. She hopes that the team will be able to give their best and enjoy the competition without any pressure.

In the Men's Singles, 15-year-old Hong Kong Junior Team member Ng Ying-lun was once again seen as the tournament favourite, defeating Chan Ho-hong of Ying Wah College 21-5, 21-8 in the Round of 8, and then Lai Cheuk-nan of Fukien Secondary School 21-13, 21-4 in the Round of 4 today. In the final match against Hong Kui Chun of La Salle College, Ng led 11:8 in the first set, and after the break, he scored points in succession to pull away and win the first set 21:12. In the second set, Ng scored 6 points in a row and was once taken by Hong Kui Chun, but he also pulled away after the break, and then won 21:13, and won the two sets in a row to defend the title without dropping a single set.

After the match, Ng said he was satisfied with his performance and believed that winning the championship has given him more confidence: "I played well in a few matches today and my mindset was more relaxed, while my opponents were more nervous. My opponents were a bit more nervous. They are all older than me, so winning the championship has boosted my confidence," he said. Ng's Hong Kong youth teammate, Ko Sung-hee, who studied in La Salle, avoided playing in the Elite Singles because he was away for a tournament. He laughed and said he felt a little bit sorry for not being able to play against him, "Ko Sung-hee was his biggest rival when he was in secondary school, and we played a one-set match in the Elite Singles in the team tournament before, but I lost at that time, and I was hoping to avenge my loss in the tournament. As Ng will be playing in Grade B of the HKG1 D1 Schools Competition, he will not be facing Grade A player Ko Sung Hee. The earliest time for them to meet each other in the Schools Competition will be the Team Elite Competition, which is tentatively scheduled to be held in May 2020, at the earliest. For the D1 Schools Competition, Ng is full of expectations, "I want to win and I'm very confident that I can help my school to get the honour.

In the Girls' Singles third place match, Lo Lok Yee of Good Hope School defeated Koo Ka Ling of Lau Wing Sang in straight games 21:9, 21:13; in the 5/6th place match, Chan Sum Yee of Pui Kiu College defeated Chan Lok Yee of Battalion of Women's Singles in 2:1 (16:21, 21:17, 21:18); and in the 7th/8th place match, Hung Foo Ki of Wong Kam Fai Primary and Secondary School, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Baptist University, defeated Luk Sze Wing of Tokwang in 2:1 (21:23, 21:12, 21:18).

The 3rd place in the Boys' Singles belonged to Chan Ming Fai of Tsang Pik Shan (Sung Lan) Secondary School, who beat Lai Cheuk Nam of Fujian in the third place match in straight games 21:16, 21:17; Tung Chak Ming of King George V School beat Tang Cheuk Man of Raimondi College in the 5th/6th place match in straight games 21:17, 21:15; and Chan Ho Wang of Anglo-Chinese beat Chuang Hang Yee of St. Paul's Co-educational College in the 7th place match in straight games 21:18, 9:21, 21:18, 2:1.