Special thanks to Rio once again for interviewing 熊貓人春日 and providing the translation

Team Hong Kong is certainly an unknown to western Overwatch fans. The squad only has two members actively on a pro team, only familiar to those who have been following the Overwatch Pacific Championship and its qualifiers. Three other players come from last year's Hong Kong World Cup squad. All three committee members play for the team, and one player comes in without being on an active roster, nor has the experience of playing on last year's Hong Kong team.

ManGoLongJai is the lone resident of Hong Kong playing for the Hong Kong Attitude, while Moowe has established himself on the Taiwanese squad Talon Esports. Included on the roster is a name much more friendly to copy and paste than to QWERTY keyboards, 熊猫人春日, who is the only player on any of the 32 World Cup teams whose name strays from the Roman alphabet most westerners are accustomed to. 熊猫人春日 (A.K.A. pandaren haruhi) is also one of three returning members of last year's team, which also included Mix and Hyper. Additionally, he is also on the committee for Hong Kong, playing alongside fellow committee members ManGoLongJai and Moowe.

Along with all of these other titles 熊猫人春日 can lay claim to, he was also the subject of an interview conducted by over.gg's very own riojestin:

Would you please introduce your team?

熊貓人春日: Members of Team Hong Kong mostly come from an FPS background like CS:GO, except for me. I was mainly playing League of Legends and not until after I started playing Overwatch I focused more on my FPS skills. Basically we just assembled the strongest available players in Hong Kong to form this team.

How would you compare your team to others in the group?

熊貓人春日: I think we are individually above average among the players in the Shanghai Qualifier. Even though we aren't the strongest, I have faith in my team.

How many of you have been to Shanghai?

熊貓人春日: I don't think any of us have been to Shanghai, since it’s unlikely for teenagers at our age to visit mainland China unless we have specific reasons. I am kinda worried that we may not acclimatize to the environment and get sick.

You said you would participate as coach this year on Facebook before the voting process, but in the end you became a member of Team Hong Kong, any reason for that?

熊貓人春日: I was going to be coach, but there are really few Hong Kong players that can participate in the World Cup, so I had to step up. Some of the skilled players couldn't attend because they still have school on the match dates, which I felt was quite unfortunate.

Thoughts on the Overwatch scene in Hong Kong?

熊貓人春日: Overwatch isn't popular enough in Hong Kong, and its popularity in Taiwan seems to be declining as well. There are too few people playing Overwatch in Hong Kong, so basically all the high rank players know each other. If the player base is large enough, Hong Kong players might be able to enter the tier one competition in Overwatch's pro scene, but we really need a stepping stone to the pro ladder or an opportunity for exposure because there are so many good players who are not recognized at the moment. I hope the Overwatch Open Division could achieve this.

Did players being on different professional teams and physical locations bring difficulties to the team’s scrims?

熊貓人春日: ManGoLongJai and Moowe are busy practicing with their own team and playing in tournaments. So their scrim timetables clash with each other sometimes. But the ping is not our concern since it doesn’t make a huge difference as long as it doesn't exceed 50~60.

Anything you would like to mention or shoutout?

熊貓人春日: I hope someone signs me on a pro team, I think I can flex on any position. And please support Team Hong Kong, we will do our best to get good results!

Hong Kong will be bringing the following roster to the World Cup:

  • Moowe (DPS)
  • Hyper (DPS)
  • 熊貓人春日 (Tank)
  • JazZy (Tank)
  • ManGoLongJai (Support)
  • Mix (Support)