For the past 10 days, Hong Kong has been hosting the East Asian Games. We thought we would take advantage by going to see a few events. There are 9 countries competing - China, Taiwan (or Chinese Taipei, as the announcers were told to call it), Macau, Mongolia, Hong Kong, two Koreas, Japan and Guam. We started with table tennis, since it seemed that this part of the world contains the best players. It was very impressive, with four games going on simultaneously, all of which could be seen at once. I tended to find a game that was competitive and watch that one. However, I made an exception to that rule when the two Guam players came out to compete in the singles tournament. They looked like they could have been father and son. Dad was about 40, with a paunch to match, but could move surprisingly well. His 'son' looked younger than Jacob and Duncan. They were absolutely creamed, but took it is good cheer and I bet had a wonderful time in Hong Kong. Actually, I noted in this morning's paper that Guam's total medal haul for the games has been one bronze, so I suspect their experience may have been shared by other members of the Guam team.
We also saw Guam compete in both men and women's Rugby Seven's. Apparently, the biggest sporting event of the year here is the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens, when the best players in the world compete. That wasn't happening here, because, in contrast to table tennis, East Asia is not noted for its rugby prowess. However, they do take it pretty seriously. For those that don't know, Rugby Sevens is a version of the game where each team has 7 players on the field and each half lasts for 7 minutes, with a running clock. The idea is to make the game go very fast and it works that way. It has been added to the next Olympics and so the IOC commissioner was here to give out the medals to denote that fact. Getting creamed at Rugby Sevens looked distinctly more painful than at table tennis. The biggest discrepancies appeared to be with the women, where the Hong Kong and the Guam teams looked like high school girls, in comparison to the much larger and stronger Chinese women. In the first game I saw, the Chinese women beat Hong Kong by 44 - 0. That is a lot of points to score in 14 minutes.
The men's games were more competitive, and in fact Hong Kong heroically beat China to get to the gold medal game against Japan. They almost won that too, but Japan overtook them on the very last play of the game. In Rugby Sevens, the game can only end on a dead ball and since that does not happen very often can get extended beyond those 7 minutes. I get the sense that Hong Kongers have absorbed some of that British plucky losers spirit, so almost winning may feel more comfortable. The Guam teams endeared themselves to everybody after their losses by performing a short excerpt from Michael Jackson's Thriller on their way off the field.
The football was spread out over the duration of the games and we just saw the 3rd/4th playoff for bronze and the gold medal game. And unlike the rugby, only men were competing. The bronze medal game was interesting because it was North vs South Korea. Who knows what was going on in their heads, but they were very nice to each other on the field. Playing hard, but the fouls were fairly benign and they helped each other up after them. The north team looked a little older and a little tougher, but the game ended up as a 1:1 draw. The south prevailed on penalties. One remarkable thing about that (for all you soccer/football aficionados out there) was that the referee had a N Korean player take his kick 3 times. The first 2 attempts were both saved, but the ref said the goalie moved too soon. The goalie got really mad and ended up getting a yellow card for his pains. But he went ahead and saved for a third time, which meant that S Korea had won the game.
On to the final, Hong Kong vs Japan. HK were expected to be the plucky losers once more, but this time they won, again on penalties, much to the delight of the large and raucous crowd. We were sitting right next to the core of the HK support, who came equipped with drums and an enormous flag - probably about 20 x 30 feet. That flag did a complete circuit of the stadium, being dragged across the tops of the crowd's heads. It was interesting to see the enthusiasm with which the HK fans booed the opposing team - seemed a little unAsian somehow. The Japanese scored half way through the first half. But then HK brought on their super sub at the beginning of the second half. He is actually part of the British Premier League's Tottenham side and they allowed him to come home for this game. He only arrived a couple of hours before the game and scored with a nice header about a minute into the half. That was all the scoring, despite extra time and so to the penalties.