At the World Junior Tennis Asia/Oceania Qualifying event held at the East Lake Tennis Club in Shenzhen, the Hong Kong 14U contingent of Katherine Ip, Carmen Lai, and Lucy Tang finished in 12th spot overall after a narrow 2-1 defeat to Chinese Taipei in the positional playoff over the weekend. The trio earlier saw off Adelle Boey's Malaysian side, 3-0, to advance to the 9th – 12th Place Playoff.

[Full Results]   [Gallery]

Lucy Tang started at No. 2 singles on Saturday against Ruan Hui-Zhan but lost 6-1, 6-4, before Katherine Ip evened things but at one apiece with a 6-2, 6-1, win over Chueh Che-Chen. However, the Taiwanese took the deciding doubles when Ruan and Chueh combined to beat Katherine Ip and Carmen Lai, 7-5, 6-3.

For the third year in a row, the Hong Kong Girls' 14U team has finished up in 12th position at the WJT Asia/Oceania Qualifying. As a matter of fact, HK also lost to Chinese Taipei in the 11th – 12th Place Playoff last year.

Earlier in the round robin stage, the territory unfortunately came away second best against No. 2 seed Thailand, Indonesia, and Chinese Taipei. The girls from Hong Kong made a great start to the 9th – 16th Place Playoffs when they beat Malaysia, 3-0, with Katherine Ip taking out opposing number one, Adelle Boey, in straight sets, 6-2 6-1.

Adelle Boey was part of the Asian 14U Team to Australia this year to compete in the ATF 14U Series Masters Finals in which she placed seventh overall.

WJT Girls' Team Captain Yang Yi reports from Shenzhen: "After three successive days of round robin competition against some of the Region's best, both our two singles players, Carmen Lai and Katherine Ip, showed a much improved mental frame of mind as well as shot execution against Malaysia, especially on the important points during key moments.

"However, judging from the matches they played this week where no one team was really that all-conquering, I believe that we have just as much talent as the other girls out there. But in terms of match-play experience, we can only get that hopefully by playing more tournaments in the future."

Three of the top four seeded teams – Japan, China, and Australia – together with unseeded Uzbekistan, have qualified for the WJT Finals to be held at Prostejov, Czech Republic, later this August.

Uzbekistan had upset No. 2 seed Thailand, 2-1, in the opening round of the knockout stage. Last year, Thailand placed first at the WJT Asia/Oceania Qualifying.

The World Junior Tennis Competition is the ITF Team Championships for Boy and Girls of 14 & Under. Notable past participants include Tommy Haas, Lleyton Hewitt, Amelie Mauresmo, Justine Henin, and Kim Clijsters.

While no girls' team from the territory had ever qualified for the WJT Finals, two previous boys' teams have managed to place fourth or better at the Regionals to progress to the World Finals.

The first time a boys' team from Hong Kong achieved such feat was in 1994 when the two-pronged attack of Jason Sankey and Wayne Wong secured the territory's first-ever qualification to the World Finals in this competition by placing second behind only Lleyton Hewitt's Australia in the Asia/Oceania qualifying.

In the subsequent World Finals held at the Yamanakako Tennis Club in Japan that year, the HK duo took to the courts with the likes of Belgium's Xavier Malisse and Hewitt for a second time round after having drawn to face the Aussies in both the regional qualifiers and in the finals that year.

The last time a Hong Kong team qualified for the World Junior Tennis Finals was in 2001 when Martin Sayer spearheaded a Boys' 14U contingent comprising Ronald Chow and Brian Wong to finish third at the Asia/Oceania Qualifying to progress to the Cesky Telecom WJT Finals in the Czech Republic.

Martin managed to go undefeated in singles throughout the 2001 Asia/Oceania Qualifying in Sri Lanka and led the team to victories over seeded opponents New Zealand, Australia and China, while losing only in the semifinals to Kim Sun-Yong's Korean team that year. Kim Sun-Yong, of course, was to later become world number one on January 3, 2005.

Results
World Junior Tennis Asia/Oceania Qualifying (Girls)
East Lake Tennis Club, Shenzhen, China
21 – 26 April 2008

Group 4 (Round Robins)

Day 1 (Apr 21)

(2)THAILAND defeated HONG KONG   3 - 0
R-1 Budesain Raktaengam (THA) d. Carmen Lai (HKG) 6-0 4-6 6-1
R-2 Veena Doungkean (THA) d. Katherine Ip (HKG) 7-6(5) 6-3
R-3 Veena Doungkean/Khwanthiti Banthao (THA) d. Katherine Ip/Lucy Tang (HKG) 6-1 6-1

Day 2 (Apr 22)

INDONESIA defeated HONG KONG   3 – 0
R-1 Dina Karina (INA) d. Carmen Lai (HKG) 7-5 6-3
R-2 Nadia Syarifah (INA) d. Katherine Ip (HKG) 6-1 4-6 6-1
R-3 Nadia Syarifah/Tia Rizki Amala (INA) d. Carmen Lai/Lucy Tang (HKG) 6-2 6-0

Day 3 (Apr 23)

CHINESE TAIPEI defeated HONG KONG   2 – 1
R-1 Ruan Hui-Zhan (TPE) d. Carmen Lai (HKG) 6-2 3-6 6-3
R-2 Wang Ting-Ya (TPE) d. Katherine Ip (HKG) 6-2 6-2
R-3 Katherine Ip/Lucy Tang (HKG) d. Ruan Hui-Zhen/Chueh Chu-Chen (TPE) 6-2 2-6 6-1

Day 4 (Apr 24)

9th – 16th Place Playoffs
HONG KONG defeated MALAYSIA   3 – 0
R-1 Carmen Lai (HKG) d. Theiviya Selvarajoo (MAS) 7-6(0) 7-6(1)
R-2 Katherine Ip (HKG) d. Adelle Boey (MAS) 6-2 6-1
R-3 Katherine Ip/Lucy Tang (HKG) d. Theiviya Selvarajoo/Adelle Boey 6-0 6-0

Day 5 (Apr 25)

9th – 12th Place Playoff
KOREA defeated HONG KONG   2 – 1
R-1 Hee Choi-Ji (KOR) d. Carmen Lai (HKG) 6-2 6-1
R-2 Jang Su-Jeong (KOR) d. Katherine Ip (HKG) 6-1 6-4 
R-3 Katherine Ip/Lucy Tang (HKG) d. Kim Jae-Yeon/Hee Choi-Ji (KOR) 6-0 6-0

Day 6 (Apr 26)

11th – 12th Place Playoff
CHINESE TAIPEI defeated HONG KONG  2 – 1
R-1 Ruan Hui-Zhan (TPE) d. Lucy Tang (HKG) 6-1 6-4
R-2 Katherine Ip (HKG) d. Chueh Che-Chen (TPE) 6-2 6-1
R-3 Ruan Hui-Zhan/Chueh Che-Chen (TPE) d. Katherine Ip/Carmen Lai (HKG) 7-5 6-3