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Hong Kong Open Lacrosse
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Big Step Forward: Hong Kong Lacrosse Open 2015

Editor’s Note: Help us to welcome Kay Cheng of the Hong Kong Lacrosse Association to the forum. Kay is dropping in to fill us in on the 2015 Hong Kong Lacrosse Open! Barton Wheeler will follow Kay to give us an inside look at the experiences of the Shanghai Men’s Lacrosse team as they competed in the event!

The Hong Kong Lacrosse Open 2015 was successfully held during this last Easter weekend, April 3rd through 5th, 2015!

HKLA was very pleased that this year we had invited many teams to join us for this biggest lacrosse event in Hong Kong in three divisions, men’s elite, men’s and women’s.

Men’s Elite division: Perth Fighting Roos, Singapore, Shanghai, HPP men’s (HK)
Men’s division: China, Korea, Taiwan, U19/21 (HK)
Women’s division: China, Singapore, HK Dragon, HK Phoenix

With the help from our volunteers, sponsors, partners and staff, the event was amazingly done and highly praised by many participants.

I just wanted to thank you for this wonderful opportunity once again and I wouldn’t have wanted to go anywhere else.  – Jackie Heaton, international ranking umpire from Canada.

It was a hot and sunny weekend, 9 teams from different places came and enjoyed the Easter weekend in the Pearl of the Orient. Despite the heat, sweat and new tan lines, all the teams played their best and the audience had enjoyed lots of exciting lacrosse matches.

Congratulations to Team Shanghai, Team Korea and HPP Phoenix winning the Championships in this tournament!

The professionalism, venue, communication and happy smiles around the field, assistance and info provided was super. The event on Saturday I think was a great place to mix and socialize with Lax players alike. – Ben Morrell, VP Singapore Lacrosse Association.

No nice judge, no nice game! HKLA had invited a strong team of officials from all around the world to work with our local officials for the tournament.

The officiating crew included three Referee-in-Chiefs for the coming ASPAC and World Championships, Kentaro Shimizu, David Goulet and Philip Pearson, as well as officials from previous/upcoming world championships.

Hong Kong Open Lacrosse (3 of 7)

Their support not only brought us fair and nice games in the tournaments, they also contributed to the development of Hong Kong Lacrosse’s officiating program.

Injuries and accidents are the biggest enemies to a sports tournament. To have a great success in one, we always need someone to take care of the players. With the help from St. John Ambulance and CUHK Sports Medicine & Health Science team, our players were able to do their best whenever they were on the field.

Alex Fong Hong Kong Celebrity lacrosse

To further promote lacrosse in Hong Kong and increase exposure, we had invited celebrity Alex Fong (former HK team swimmer, actor and singer) to be our guest of honor for the opening ceremony. We are getting the public to know and learn more about the lacrosse history as well as the development.

The Social Gathering on Saturday evening was a blast! All the lacrosse players relaxed and mingled with each other before the finals. Thank you Hong Kong Kowloon Ferry for sponsoring us a spectacular venue with Hong Kong famous harbor view, as well as donations from our coaches and partners like Cool Stick Lacrosse.

We are blessed to have all the support to create a memorable night with lacrosse players, officials and volunteers from around the world.

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This year, HKLA had put a lot of effort on the lacrosse development and the success of Hong Kong Lacrosse Open meant a lot to us. With the support Joe Tsai, we are growing at a much faster speed and realizing more of our lacrosse dreams. We will keep improving and promoting the sport we love and mark a new page in the Hong Kong lacrosse history.

Like the Hong Kong Lacrosse Open Facebook Page for more information and beautiful tournament photos taken by our official photographer – Hong Kong Sports Photography Association.

Thanks for the support from the rest of our valuable partners; Hong Kong Sportsfinder, Fotosports.HK, MLFung, Marco Cheung, Danny Law and many more.

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Shanghai Men’s Lacrosse Experience

Barton WheelerAlso published on ShanghaiLacrosse.com

Hong Kong lacrosse Open 2015

The Shanghai Men’s Lacrosse team competed in the Hong Kong Open this past weekend in the Men’s Elite Division along with teams from Hong Kong, Singapore, and Perth, Australia.  The Men’s Division also featured teams from China, Korea, Hong Kong and the debut of Taiwan.

First round action on Friday saw Shanghai through with one win, no losses and two tie games.  The draws with Singapore (8-8 Final) and Hong Kong (5-5) earned a point each in the tournament while the win over Perth (8-5) claimed two tournament points.

In the first game on Saturday though, Perth would avenge their Friday loss by beating Shanghai 8-6.  Shanghai then went on to defeat Singapore (5-3) before taking another draw against Hong Kong (5-5).

A record of 2 wins, 1 loss and 3 ties was good for 7 tournament points and, because Singapore and Hong Kong split many of their games, saw Shanghai through to the championship game against #1 seeded Perth (4-2-0 after the second round).

Despite being down 3-5 at the half, Shanghai rallied in the second half with improved face-off performances, stingy defense, and the focused finish of Trey Steidle.  Allowing only two second half goals, while surging forward with five of their own, Shanghai finished with a favorable final score of 8-7.  Steidle matched his own performance from 2014 by scoring a handful of goals late in the game and is now a repeat Tournament MVP.

After twice finishing as runners-up to the hometown heroes in both 2014 tournaments, Hong Kong and Singapore respectively, Shanghai showed they had what it takes in 2015.  Neither Singapore nor Hong Kong would beat Shanghai this time around.

Perth emerged more strongly than they had during the Singapore Spectacular in November, but of the three contests they had with Shanghai, they were victorious in only one.

As dates get settled for the 2015 Singapore Spectacular, the Shanghai men will have to sort out how to keep the crown that has, so far, been difficult for teams to hold.