"It must be nice, it must be nice to have Washington on your side," sang the bitter, scheming character of Aaron Burr to the titular treasurer in the musical "Hamilton." While we are centuries removed from this melodramatic, albeit melodious, national origin story, another former British colony is currently struggling to figure out its place in the world. On the opposite side of the Earth, Hong Kong's national table tennis team is resisting the rush to resume international table tennis competition. One year ago, the Hong Kong women's team (pictured) and men's team traveled to Gondomar, Portugal for the World Qualification Event. Each team secured an Olympic berth by dint of a top-nine finish in its respective qualifier, and the wins also guaranteed two spots in each singles event. Their mixed doubles team of Doo Hoi-kem and Wong Chun-ting had already qualified for Tokyo in 2019, meaning Hong Kong has long since reached its maximum Olympic allotment of six total players. Meanwhile, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and its new commercial venture, World Table Tennis (WTT), are eagerly campaigning for the resumption of international competition. After a soft opening last November in Macao, WTT is ready to launch not one but two of its proposed "hub" events this March in Qatar. Many of the world's best table tennis players will gather this March 3-13 in Doha for the WTT Middle East Hub, competing for world ranking points and a combined $600,000 in prizes. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic has wrought utter havoc on the world. Not even sweet, innocent table tennis was spared the wrath of this cruel virus. The world's top players, including Hong Kong's national team, would all love to be honing their skills in international competition preparatory to the apotheosis of athleticism that is the Olympics. Not everyone, however, is eager to rush in. Chan Kong-wah, head coach of the Hong Kong national team, did not mince words in his assessment of the WTT event. "The safety measures provided by the organizers cannot meet the requirements of the Sports Institute and as a matter of fact, the area is still under great danger of the pandemic." After a smattering of rescheduled Olympic qualifiers are held this spring, the final tickets to Tokyo will be awarded based on ITTF ranking. For many players, the only chance they have to qualify is by risking their health to travel and compete for the attractively inflated ITTF rating points on offer at the WTT event. "At the moment, players’ safety is of the utmost importance and we do not want to take the risk," elaborated Coach Chan. "We have already qualified for the Olympics in all table tennis events and that remains our biggest target. We must make sure all our best players can attend the Tokyo Games without any health problem." For those still on the outside of the Olympics, looking in, the bitter tune from "Hamilton" might sound something more like, "It must be nice, it must be nice to be already qualified."

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