SOUTH Africa’s midfielder, Mark Chong, has the rare distinction of being the first national player of Chinese orgin.
However, the 24-year-old player from Pretoria, is a full bred South African, as he is born and bred in the country.
“My mother came from Hong Kong and my father from Shanghai,” disclosed Mark when asked if he hailed from China.
Asked how he got involved in hockey, he said his older brother used to play at club level and he and his father would follow his brother whenever he trained or played.
“Then my brother stopped playing and I got hooked to the game as a teenager,” said Mark who stands at 1.69m in a frame of 69kg.
“Hockey is big in Pretoria and soon after playing for my school was selected for the national Under-18 team and graduated to the U-21 team.
“This my debut appearance with the national team, after I was selected at the end of the Inter Provincial Tournament (IPT),” said Mark who made his national debut to earn his first cap against Pakistan in the opening here in Ipoh, where he had a playing time of 32 minutes.
Mark said he was really excited about his debut and having to play against Pakistan.
“And what a debut it turned out to be when we beat them 4-1 convincingly.”
Mark said that it would have been a dream debut if he had scored, but nevertheless it was a team effort and we won.
However, South Africa lost their second game to Egypt 0-3, where he had a playing time of 32 minutes too.
“We had eight players who were making their debut in this tournament and one player with just one cap. Naturally, we lacked experience and the match against Pakistan took the toll on us and we were tired and lethargic.
On his being of Chinese orgin, Mark said he has no problems with his teammates.
“I am a true bred African and we bond very well. There is no issues. We are all brothers.”
Infact, team manager Mark Jenneker, has some Chinese blood. His grandfather is from Canton and his father is German.
“This explains my good looks,” joked Jenneker.
Yesterday, in the match against Malaysia which was halted and later postponed after one hour ten minutes wait for the rain to stop, Mark was used for ten minutes.
“It was a pity the match had to be postponed because we were all in top gear after the goal. Now we have to start afresh tomorrow (Sunday) although we still lead by a goal,” added Mark.
This evening South Africa played Japan in the second game of the day at 6.00pm and lost 2.4
Mark is looking forward to a good showing here in Ipoh to impress the team management to be in the squad for the Nations Cup in South Africa at the end of the month.
“Many of us youngsters here are on trials to see if anyone of us can make the grade to join the national team who made history when they qualified for the recent Commonwealth Games semifinals in Birmingham.”
Ends.
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