Coleman Wong (HKU), Roger Ng (CityU), Dasson Chan (CUHK), and Yandy Shek (SJSU) are representing Hong Kong at the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU Summer World University Games in Germany. The opening ceremony is scheduled to commence on 16 July, with the tennis events taking place from 17-26 July on the clay courts of the ETUF Tennisanlage, which has existed on its current site by the Ruhr River in Essen since 1895.
TeamHK: Coleman Wong, Roger Ng, Dasson Chan, Yandy Shek, Leo Liu (Coach), Zhang Ling (Coach).
The World University Games is one of the largest and most prestigious multi-sport events in the world, with an estimated 10,000+ student-athletes and officials from over 150 countries taking part this year. Held biennially in a different host city, it showcases top collegiate athletes from across the globe.
HKCTA President, Michael Cheng: “There are many variables we can’t control at these big events, but what we can focus on is the players developing good habits, carrying themselves with great work ethic, and giving 110% effort whenever they step on court. It’s not every day that you get to represent your country, but I’m sure they will embrace the opportunity and give a good account of themselves. The World University Games has had a rich history of promoting sports participation among students and bringing together young athletes from different countries to promote cultural exchange and global understanding. This year also marks Hong Kong’s debut in tennis at the Games forty years ago, when Kelvin Inge first competed in Kobe in 1985.”
Website: rhineruhr2025
When Coleman Wong competed in Chengdu two years ago, he was ranked at a then career-high No. 533. Since then, he has won his second career Futures title by capturing the M25 Hong Kong and reaching four ATP Challenger finals. Thus far, he managed to beat several top 100 opponents in Thanasi Kokkinakis (No. 68), Taro Daniel (No. 100), Wu Yibing (No. 98), and Daniel Altmaier (No. 82), before he defeated world No. 14 Ben Shelton 7-6(3) 2-6 7-6(5) to reach the third round of this year’s ATP Masters 1000 Miami Open.
He came within a point of beating 39th-ranked Brandon Nakashima to reach the quarterfinal of the ATP 250 Hangzhou Open 2024. He subsequently peaked at ATP No. 128 on 30 September 2024. Although he just missed out on a place at the 2024 ATP Next Gen Finals, he did finish 10th in the Race to Jeddah, making him the 10th highest-ranked 20 & Under player in the world at the end of the season. He is currently ranked No. 175.
Third year student Yandy Shek, who plays No. 1 singles and doubles for San Jose State University, holds a current WTA ranking of No. 1307 in singles. She has just won her maiden ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour doubles title at the W15 Hong Kong last week.
Tennis has been a medal sport since the first Summer Universiade in Turin in 1959. Except for 1975 and 1989, tennis was contested at every Summer Games. Since 1987, bronze medals were awarded to both semifinal losers, thereby eliminating the playoff for third place.
Hong Kong attained its first medal at the 2017 World University Games when Kevin Wong and Brian Yeung beat No. 4 seed Chung Yun-seong and Lee Jea-moon (KOR) 6-2 6-2 in the quarterfinals to reach the medal rounds. In 2019, Eudice Chong captured Hong Kong’s first-ever singles medal and secured an additional bronze together with Maggie Ng in the women’s doubles. The Wesleyan grad set another precedent as the first player from Hong Kong to medal twice in tennis at the same Universiade.
Related Story: Eudice Chong medals in historic singles
Past medallists from Hong Kong:
| Taipei | 2017 | Kevin Wong/Brian Yeung | Men’s Doubles | Bronze |
| Napoli | 2019 | Eudice Chong Eudice Chong/Maggie Ng | Women’s Singles Women’s Doubles | Bronze Bronze |
| Chengdu | 2021 | Coleman Wong/Cody Wong | Mixed Doubles | Bronze |
The British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) nominated Eliz Maloney (Loughborough), Esther Adeshina (Tennessee), Grace Heather Piper (USC), Jamie Connel (Florida State), Toby Samuel (South Carolina), and Rahul Dhokia (Durham) for Team GB. British students have medalled in the last three Summer Games they contested. Emily Arbuthnott won a silver in Napoli 2019, a silver in men’s doubles for Jack Findel-Hawkins and Luke Johnson in Taipei 2017, and a gold medal for Joe Salisbury and Darren Walsh in Guangzhou 2015.
Maloney was the winner of the 2024 Lexus British Tour Masters and has held a career-high WTA ranking of No. 369 in doubles. During the 2022/2023 season, Samuel was ranked as high as No. 3 in singles in dual-match play and was the top seed in doubles at the NCAA Championships. He was a three-time All-American who held a career-high ATP ranking of No. 404 in singles and No. 242 in doubles. Adeshina has won two silver medals while representing GB at the Master’U BNP Paribas Championships.
Meanwhile, UniUSA Team has nominated Natalie Block (Harvard), Jerry Barton (Southern Methodist), Trevor Svajda (Southern Methodist), Olivia Center (UCLA), Kate Fakih (UCLA), and doubles specialist Nico Godsick (Stanford).
USA last medalled in men’s singles at Edmonton in 1983 courtesy of Richard Gallien (Pepperdine). In men’s doubles, David Caldwell (University of North Carolina) and Paul Goldstein (Stanford) were the last Americans to medal when they did it at Fukuoka 1995. The last American to medal in women’s singles was Sabrina Santamaria (USC), who won a silver at Kazan in 2013. Kimmi Hance and Elise Wagle (UCLA) captured a bronze in women’s doubles in Chengdu 2021.
The Japanese team will feature Jay Friend (Arizona), Yua Taka (Nihon), Souki Tange (Nihon), Yu Tanaka (Tsukuba), Natsuki Yoshimoto (Tsukuba), Ohashi Remika (Keio), and Kanon Yamaguchi (Kansai).
Did You Know…?
• Players from Asia have dominated the men’s singles event since China’s Xia Jia-Ping triumphed at Sheffield 1991, winning 13 of 16 gold medals.
• In women’s singles, players from Asia have claimed 11 of 16 gold medals since 1991.
• At Beijing 2001, Li Na swept all three gold medals in singles, doubles, and mixed.
• The lowest-ranked player to capture the gold medal in men’s singles was Artem Sitak, who was No. 572 when he won at Izmir in 2005.
• Two years ago in Chengdu, Henry von der Schulenburg (Harvard) became the first unranked player to capture the gold medal in men’s singles since Richard Gallien (Pepperdine) last did it at Edmonton 1983.
• Benny Lin captured a silver in mixed doubles with Wang Shi-Ting in Sicily 1997 and Palma de Mallorca 1999. He also took home a bronze in men’s singles from Sicily.
Livestream is available from the semifinals onward. See broadcast schedule: rhineruhr2025.com/en/schedule/broadcast.