It's hard for him playing (to play?) against me.

[joham]

It's hard for him playing against me. I've got nothing to play for, but for him, he needs to win so ____.
This was one of China's university admission examination questions. The given answer is: badly.

My question is: Does the sentence "It's hard for him playing against me." equal "It's hard for him to play against me."? If not, what is the difference between them?
Thank you very much.

 

[Anglika]

Yes, it does.

While not wishing to criticise the people setting these exams, the second sentence really should read "I've got nothing to lose, but
he needs to win so ____."