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Paul McNamara

She scored a flawless 45 in her IB exam, but it was accepting she did not have “to be perfect at everything” that cured Pedrey Ng Wing-lam of the temper tantrums threatening to undermine a promising table tennis career.
Poised for her Asian Games debut this month, the 22-year-old is five years into a quantitative finance degree from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, having opted against studying overseas to maximise her sporting potential.
“I believed in myself … it’s my dream to play in the Olympics and win a medal for Hong Kong,” Ng said. “That’s something not everybody has an opportunity to do, and if I want to be an athlete, it has to be while I’m young.”
As a child, Ng juggled table tennis with rugby, swimming, athletics, cross country, tennis and ice skating, but a place in a select squad at 10 narrowed her focus, and one year later she was elevated to Hong Kong’s youth table tennis team.
Ng had actually come to the sport because of her older brother, Pedro, who was a keen player and is partially responsible for Ng’s English name.

“My childhood best friend was called Audrey and I wanted the same name but my mum didn’t allow it,” Ng said. “I combined Audrey with my brother’s name and got Pedrey.”
While Ng’s parents did not want a daughter named Audrey, they backed her devotion to the sport – on condition she completed her International Baccalaureate (IB).
“The Hong Kong coach asked if I wanted to switch to being a full-time athlete in secondary four, but I liked studying and didn’t want to give up so young,” she said.
A pupil at St Paul’s Co-educational College, she finished her schooling in some style, albeit Ng was initially awarded an IB score of 44 after her theory of knowledge and extended essay were both graded one mark beneath A.
“I appealed and they both became As,” she said. “But I wasn’t in the newspaper, and couldn’t take a photo of the 45, so that was unfortunate.”
Ng’s achievement was all the more impressive because she was already combining academics with regular travel for table tennis.
“I’m determined and I aim high. I was really competitive when I was young and I didn’t want to lose at anything,” Ng said.
A loathing for coming second extended to playing board games with her family, and Ng’s inability to control her emotions grew into a “really serious problem”.

“I wanted to be perfect, and I couldn’t accept it when I missed a stupid point,” she said. “Losing one game would mean losing the whole match.”
Playing for Hong Kong under-15s in an Asian Junior and Cadet Championship, Ng “lost my temper and made us lose”.
“The coach was really mad, and she scolded me,” Ng said. “That’s when I started to realise this was a major problem of mine and I had to face it. I’d thought I was doing well, so why would I need to change anything?”
Ng spoke to coaches and sports psychologists at Hong Kong Sports Institute. She uses self-talk and writes in a diary to allow her to “know more about myself, and understand why I would think how I had at certain points in matches”.
“It’s a big change for me,” she said. “Sometimes you’re just really mad that you lost a point, and you forget everything and lose your temper.
“But I don’t really get frustrated with myself now. Before a match, I get ready to accept whatever happens, and I have a plan in my head for how I’ll respond if I’m playing badly. If you’ve mentally prepared, nothing will come as a surprise.”
With her degree extended over eight years, Ng now considers herself a full-time athlete.
“I began training much more after going full-time, so I expected my results to get better but that didn’t happen,” Ng said. “We went to lots of overseas competitions with very strong opponents, and I lost much more than I did as a junior.
“I learned to accept that I’m not a perfect person. There’s no need to be perfect in every single aspect of life, and realising that made me happier and much more optimistic.
“I enjoyed time with friends more, but I also began to enjoy playing table tennis instead of only enjoying the feeling of winning, which led to better results.”
One of those better results came in May in a 3-2 defeat to naturalised German Han Ying in the World Team Table Tennis Championships.
The 43-year-old is ranked No 17 in the world and was a team silver medallist at the 2016 Olympics.
“She is really strong, and I didn’t expect it to be so close,” Ng said. “It was the first time I enjoyed a whole match. I was smiling and playing my ‘A’ game the entire time.”
Ng cited playing in front of “home support” in Chengdu for her first major tournament, the 2024 ITTF Mixed Team World Cup, where Hong Kong claimed bronze, as another high, along with the pair of bronzes she won from last year’s World University Games.

A reserve for the 2024 Olympics, Ng soaked in the “intimidating atmosphere” in Paris, and wondered whether she could perform “under such high pressure”.
“That pushed me to train harder,” she said. “A lot of players can play really well technically, but using your ability in a competition requires a lot of mental strength and mental training.”
The singles world No 80, Ng and partner Doo Hoi-kem are third in the doubles global standings after their runners-up finish at last month’s World Table Tennis Europe Smash.
Training with Doo’s coach, Zhang Rui, since 2023, Ng says the pair have been the biggest influences on her professional growth.
“They’ve changed my perspective as a person, and showed me you just have to accept failures,” Ng said.
Along with an eye on her post-sport life, Ng chose to study quantitative finance because it suits her aptitude for “calculations, logical thinking and solving puzzles”, all qualities that aid her table tennis.
“Competing on your own, you have to study your opponent, and they all pose different challenges,” she said. “You’re constantly solving puzzles, so it’s very interesting for me.”
Now set for the Asian Games, Ng, who was a reserve in Hangzhou three years ago, is aiming to just enjoy the moment and not think about the results.
“This is such a blessing,” she said. “I went last time as a sparring partner, now I’m competing as one of Hong Kong’s major players. This is a great improvement for me.”


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Pedrey Ng competes at the World Table Tennis Championships (WTTC) Asian Continental Stage in Doha, Qatar, in January 2023. Photo: Xinhua

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Pedrey Ng back in 2018 when she was a more emotional competitor. Photo: Kelly Ho

Pedrey Ng (left) and Doo Hoi-kem show off their WTT Europe Smash runners-up trophies. Photo: Xinhua

Pedrey Ng (left) playing with Doo Hoi-kem in the women’s doubles final at the WTT Contender Muscat event in January. Photo: WTT

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Sport

Hong Kong

A perfect IB score and desire to aim high form one side of Pedrey Ng’s character, but not settling for second best almost ruined everything


A perfect IB score and desire to aim high form one side of Pedrey Ng’s character, but not settling for second best almost ruined everything.


Asian Games 2026

Doo Hoi-kem

Accepting failure key to success for perfectionist Pedrey Ng as Asian Games debut looms

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A perfect IB score and desire to aim high form one side of Pedrey Ng’s character, but not settling for second best almost ruined everything

A perfect IB score and desire to aim high form one side of Pedrey Ng’s character, but not settling for second best almost ruined everything