China News Service, Hong Kong, March 25 (Reporter Wei Huadu) The 2024 Hong Kong International Table Tennis Star Challenge kicked off on the 25th at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Hong Kong. The world's "No. 1 Brother" Ronnie O'Sullivan ) and Marco Marco of Hong Kong, China brought a wonderful showdown, which was a feast for the eyes of the fans.
On the same day, Hui Ching-tao, executive chairman of the organizer Sports Academy without Borders, and Bei Junqi, honorary vice president of the Hong Kong Sports Association and the Olympic Committee, attended the opening ceremony and welcomed all the golfers to Hong Kong. O'Sullivan and six of the guests hosted the kick-off ceremony to kick off the tournament.
The three-day exhibition match adopts a best-of-nine-game system, with three games scheduled on the first day. In the opening match, O'Sullivan faced off against three-time world champion "Golden Left Hand" Mark Williams. Williams, who was in good form, led by a score of 4:2. In the fifth game, he scored 112 points with one stroke. But O'Sullivan pursued hard and took advantage of his opponent's mistakes to drag the game into the ninth game. In the end, Williams defeated O'Sullivan without any danger.
The highlight was undoubtedly the match between the host player "Hong Kong King" Marco Fu and O'Sullivan. A large number of fans came in early to watch the high-level contest between the two. That night, former Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, as well as artists Aaron Kwok, Julian Cheung and Anita Yuen, also attended the game.
The two golfers caused a commotion as soon as they came out. After the game started, the eyes of the spectators sitting in the stands on all sides were deeply attracted by the table in the center of the field, and they burst into applause.
O'Sullivan won the first game, and then Fu Jiajun became aggressive and scored 84 points in one stroke to recover the first game, which made the fans excited. O'Sullivan won two consecutive games to lead 3:1. After the timeout, Fu Jiajun hit the ball accurately and scored 102 points in one stroke to catch up to 2:3. Afterwards, O'Sullivan made another victory to gain match point.
In the seventh game, O'Sullivan pursued the victory and seemed to want to move towards the goal of "147 full score", but it was interrupted later, but Fu Jiajun failed to seize the opportunity. O'Sullivan was no longer soft-hearted and won the game with 68:50. , defeated Fu Jiajun with a big score of 5:2.
Marco Marco described the atmosphere at the scene as very good after the game. He was satisfied with his performance and praised O'Sullivan for his outstanding performance.
O'Sullivan came to Hong Kong again to compete. He said that he has always liked visiting Hong Kong and Asia, and he hopes to bring his family to Hong Kong to relax and have fun in the future.
"I watched all three matches today, but the most important thing was to watch Marco Marco and O'Sullivan's matches. I have always paid attention to their matches. The atmosphere was very good today, especially as a friendly match was temporarily added to the conference. I am very happy to attend. I can take photos with the players," Mr. Lin, a fan, told reporters. (over)