In this year's Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open (中銀香港網球公開賽), Hong Kong native Coleman Wong Chak-lam reached the first ATP quarterfinal of his pro career. Wong was given a wild card into the tournament and made good use of it, defeating Mariano Navone in the Round of 28 6-3, 7-5 and world No. 41 Gabriel Diallo in the Round of 16 1-6, 7-5, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals. Diallo was the sixth seed in the tournament and also is a good friend/doubles partner of Wong. In the quarterfinals, Wong lost to the top seed Lorenzo Musetti 4-6, 4-6. Musetti would reach the final before losing to Alexander Bublik, the number two seed, 6-7, 3-6.
Wong has to be feeling really good about his performance. He put on a good show for the Hong Kong tennis fans and was able to pull off a legit upset in the Round of 16 to reach the quarterfinals. When you are the hometown favorite, you want to at least make a bit of noise and Wong did just that. In the process, he also achieved a career milestone by reaching his first career ATP quarterfinal.
Looking ahead, it'll be fun to see how the rest of the season goes for Wong and whether or not he can make a run in the qualifiers at the Australian Open. If he is able to breakthrough into the main draw, all of Hong Kong will certainly be cheering him on.
Save Cantonese: Cantonese is the lingua franca of Hong Kong and is incredibly important to the identity of the city as well as the Guangdong Province of China. Cantonese gets its name from being the lingua franca of Guangdong, previously anglicized as Canton. Cantonese culture is famous for giving us cuisine like Dim Sum, music like Cantonese Opera and Cantopop, and a hard working spirit and energy that has become the backbone of Chinatowns around the world.
With Mandarin becoming the dominant spoken form of the Chinese language, Cantonese and other varieties of spoken Chinese are in danger of fading away. Each of these varieties of Chinese have their own unique cultures that deserve to be preserved and carried on into future generations. Save Cantonese is an organization that is dedicated to preserving and protecting both the Cantonese language and culture. Their website is SaveCantonese.org.
Their mission statement is below:
Save
Cantonese is an international movement that sustains and celebrates
Cantonese language and culture. Through grassroots advocacy, we protect
and promote local language programs, while strengthening connections
across the global Cantonese diaspora. We ensure that present and future
generations benefit from a vibrant, thriving Cantonese-speaking and
learning community.
Save Cantonese 係一項國際性嘅運動，旨在傳承同頌揚粵語同廣東文化。我哋透過基層宣傳，保護同宣傳本地語言活動，同時加強同散居全球嘅粵語僑民聯繫。我哋確保從今以後每一代都能受惠於充滿活力、蓬勃發展嘅粵語同學習社區。
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