World Lacrosse Women’s U20 Championship: Hong Kong hopes hang by thread after Japan upset
- Ireland deal blow to hosts Hong Kong, then Japanese make their task more difficult by beating England
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Hong Kong’s hopes of progressing at the World Lacrosse Women’s U20 Championship were as good as shattered as they suffered a heavy defeat by Ireland and Japan stunned England in their group’s other game.
The hosts were beaten 20-5 by the Irish on Sunday, despite Eloise Bolitho opening the scoring for the Hongkongers just 15 seconds into the match at Hong Kong Football Club.
Ireland responded with 10 first-half goals, interrupted by replies from Anbie Chan and Aurora Bolitho as Hong Kong trailed 10-3 at half-time.
There were seven more for the Irish before Hong Kong managed a much closer fourth quarter, with Yeung Pui-pui and Tracy Lam both scoring. It was too little, too late.
“After watching Ireland beat Japan, we knew they were a strong team,” the city’s head coach Gemini Fan Tak-kwan said. “I think they have improved massively since 2019.”
Ireland were 19th in the last edition five years ago in Canada, while Hong Kong were 12th, in what was their only previous appearance, and were aiming to better that this week.
Sunday’s loss left Fan’s side needing to beat the Japanese, the world’s fifth-ranked team, in their final Pool D match on Tuesday to stand any chance of finishing third in the group and qualifying as one of the top 12 teams.
The task then became more daunting as Japan upset England, who had hammered Hong Kong on Saturday. England threw away a 6-3 lead and surprisingly lost 12-7.
Hong Kong finished the day in fourth place with a minus-21 goal difference, while teams above them boast a plus-16 goal difference or better. Fan’s team are likely to contest the 13th to 16th placement games.
