Hong Kong men's lacrosse team have secured a berth in the world championship to be held in July 2023 in San Diego, California.
Hong Kong beat Taiwan 11-3 to finish the six-team round robin Asia Pacific Lacrosse Union Qualifier with a 4-1 [won-lost] record.
Tsang Hing-yui, Evan Mok-lamme and Yuki Indiana Nakagawa starred in the victory over Taiwan as Hong Kong finished second behind hosts South Korea in the tournament in Jeju.
New Zealand and the Philippines claimed the region's two other world championship places.
Hong Kong also beat New Zealand, the Philippines and China but lost to the home team.
Captain Kelvin Mak Ho-chun said he was satisfied with the team's overall performance.
"The strengths of all the participating teams were well-matched, so we were quite nervous [before the qualifiers]," Mak said.
"The most unforgettable match should be the one with New Zealand, as we finished 8-7," he said, adding that it was "revenge after our defeat in the 2018 world championship, and we finally made it."
Mak added that the team will make adjustments in their training so they can improve on their standing.
Hong Kong finished 27th among 44 teams the last time the world championship was held in 2018 in Israel.
Before the qualifier, 25 out of 30 spots in San Diego have been secured already, including berths for Australia and Japan, who qualified automatically after finishing fourth and sixth in 2018.
Just one spot from Africa is up for grabs, and that will be decided in another qualifier.
Lacrosse is a sport played between two teams of 10 players on the field, including a goalkeeper, three defenders, three midfielders and three attackers.
Each player has a long-handled stick with a net called a lacrosse stick or a crosse. Players use the stick to pass, catch and cradle a small rubber ball and the objective of the game is to outscore the opponents by shooting the ball into their goal.