Hong Kong's first National Games competition – beach volleyball – got under way at Victoria Park, with SAR teams losing their opening group matches.

In the men's competition, the Hong Kong pair of Tse Kin-wang and Wong Ka-yun were outclassed by opponents from Yunnan, losing in straight sets 14-21, 12-21 on Friday evening.

Earlier, in the women's event, To Wing-tung and To Wing-man were defeated 19-21 and 16-21 by their Chongqing rivals, while Au Yeung Wai-yan and Yuen Ting-chi fell 14-21 and 13-21 to opponents from Jiangsu.

Au Yeung said playing on home soil made her quite nervous at the start “because it was truly my first time playing in Hong Kong with the support of all our relatives, friends, and the crowd".

"There are very few opportunities to play in front of them,” she said.

“But once the game started, I became completely absorbed in it, forgetting everything outside the court. I just focused on every single point.

"Once that nervous feeling faded, I really enjoyed myself and wanted to give my all to win every point in front of everyone.”

Yuen praised the venue, which was temporarily built for the National Games, calling it “excellent” for a large-scale competition.

“[Compared to the test event], there are more restrooms and signages all around, and staff members were generally responsive to our questions, guiding us wherever we wanted to go,” she said.

“The venue's set-up was excellent and not too stuffy.”

Among the spectators during the day were students arranged by their school.

One student said she felt amazed to see the athletes up close and experience the atmosphere.

“I felt so excited. Seeing how hard our Hong Kong athletes worked made the whole match thrilling. They gave their all and kept pushing to catch up with their opponents. This was my first time watching a competition like this, and I was really looking forward to it,” she said.

Fifty-two teams are competing in the women's and men's events, with the finals set for November 8 and November 10, respectively.
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Last updated: 2025-10-31 HKT 22:09