The Hong Kong Fed Cup team suffered its fourth successive defeat in this year's Asia/Oceania Group I Qualifying when they were beaten 0-2 by host nation, Japan, in its final Pool A match in Tokyo today after the doubles match was cancelled due to rain. By virtue of finishing last in their Pool, Hong Kong is thus relegated to Asia/Oceania Group II in 2004.

Official Website: www.fedcup.com.

In their final Pool game on Friday against No. 1 seed Japan, debutante Cindy Lee started at the second singles spot, but was no match for Saori Obata of Japan, as she was overwhelmed, 0-6, 0-6. Obata has a current world ranking of No. 103 and is Japan?s third-leading player.

Meanwhile, Lam Po Kuen faced Japanese No. 2 Shinobu Asagoe at the number one spot. Although the Hong Kong number one gave a good account of herself and had some competitive games against Asagoe, she simply could not stay with the world 83rd-ranked player the entire way, eventually going down, 1-6, 1-6.

Japan rested their leading player, Ai Sugiyama, ranked No. 17 in the world.

The doubles match between Kristin Godridge/Lam Po Kuen and Saori Obata/Rika Fujiwara of Japan was unfortunately called off due to rain, thus rendering a 0-2 defeat overall.

The initial draw for the qualifying did not bode well for Hong Kong as it was drawn into a Pool consisting of tough opposition the likes of Japan, China, Korea, and New Zealand, and looking at the players' rankings, the only likely nation Hong Kong has a chance against would have been New Zealand, which they lost to on opening day.

After setbacks against New Zealand, (3)China, Korea and (1)Japan, the Hong Kong team finished bottom of Pool A with an 0-4 record, and are relegated to Asia/Oceania Group II for 2004 together with Kazakhstan, which finished bottom of Pool B.

Second-seeded Indonesia will play third-seeded China, and top-seed Japan will face No. 4 seed Thailand on Saturday to determine which two nations will be promoted to the World Group Play-off ties in 2003, after those nations finished in the top two positions in their pools.

Last year, Hong Kong retained its Group I status by finishing with a 2-3 record and placing third among Japan, China, Uzbekistan, Thailand and the Philippines in the Pool matches.

Other notable top-100 players competing in this year's Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Qualifying Group I include Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn (world No. 33), Uzbekistan's Iroda Tulyaganova (No. 42), and Indonesia's Angelique Widjaja (No. 63).

Participating teams in the 2003 Asia/Oceania Qualifying Group I were divided into Pool A and Pool B.

Pool A — (1)Japan, (3)China, New Zealand, Korea, Hong Kong

Pool B — (2)Indonesia, (4)Thailand, Kazakhstan, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Uzbekistan

Group II, meanwhile, consisted of (1)India, Kyrgyzstan, Pacific Oceania, and the Philippines where India and the Philippines finished first and second respectively to gain automatic promotion to Group I next year.

Asia/Oceania Group I Qualifying Team Nomination List

Results
Fed Cup 2003 Asia/Oceania Qualifying Group I
Ariake Tennis Park and Colosseum, Tokyo, Japan
April 21-25, 2003

Day 1 (Apr 21)
New Zealand d. Hong Kong 3-0
Leanne Baker (NZL) d. Kristin Godridge (HKG) 7-6(4) 4-6 6-3
Shelley Stephens (NZL) d. Lam Po Kuen (HKG) 7-6(6) 7-6(2)
Leanne Baker/Eden Marama (NZL) d. Kristin Godridge/Lam Po Kuen (HKG) 6-7(7) 6-3 6-2

Day 2 (Apr 22)
(3)China d. Hong Kong 3-0
Sun Tian-Tian (CHN) d. Kristin Godridge (HKG) 6-0 6-1
Zheng Jie (CHN) d. Cindy Lee (HKG) 6-0 6-1
Zheng Jie/Yan Zi (CHN) d. Lam Po Kuen/Cindy Lee (HKG) 6-2 6-0

Day 3 (Apr 23) - Bye

Day 4 (Apr 24)
Korea d. Hong Kong 3-0
Kim Mi-Ok (KOR) d. Kristin Godridge (HKG) 6-3 6-1
Hong Da-Jung (KOR) d. Lam Po Kuen (HKG) 6-3 6-3
KimMi-Ok/Choi Young-Ja (KOR) d. Lam Po Kuen/Kristin Godridge (HKG) 6-1 6-4

Day 5 (Apr 25)
(1)Japan d. Hong Kong 3-0
Saori Obata (JPN) d. Cindy Lee (HKG) 6-0 6-0
Shinobu Asagoe (JPN) d. Lam Po Kuen (HKG) 6-1 6-1
Saori Obata/Rika Fujiwara (JPN) v. Kristin Godridge/Lam Po Kuen (HKG) - cancelled due to rain

Standings (Numbers in brackets denote seeds):

Pool A
(1)Japan 4-0
(3)China 3-1
Korea 2-2
New Zealand 1-3
Hong Kong 0-4

Pool B
(2)Indonesia 4-1
(4)Thailand 4-1
Chinese Taipei 4-1
Uzbekistan 2-3
Malaysia 1-4
Kazakhstan 0-5

Hong Kong and Kazakhstan relegated to Asia/Oceania Group II in 2004