Hong Kong sailor Nicholas Bezy Halliday captured the city’s first gold of the 15th National Games on Wednesday, triumphing in the men’s single dinghy ILCA 7 class.

The win conjures up memories of Lee Lai-shan — the city’s Olympic windsurfing champion — who secured Hong Kong’s last sailing medal at the Games with a silver 23 years ago.

Halliday’s gold comes during the first-ever National Games to be co-hosted by Guangdong, and the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui hailed the achievement.

Extending her “heartfelt congratulations”, Law said, “I am very glad that Nicholas Bezy Halliday has, with his persistence and effort, overcome challenges to win Hong Kong’s first gold medal at the 15th National Games”.

“This is a demonstration of his strength and perseverance. All Hong Kong people, like myself, are proud of his achievement”, Law added.

Hong Kong has assembled its largest-ever delegation for this year’s national meet, with 602 athletes competing in 28 sports, including eight competitors in four sailing events at the Guangdong Ocean Sports Training Centre in Shanwei through Thursday.

Halliday dominated the event’s second phase, which started last Friday.

Halliday consistently featured among the front-runners, finishing in the top three in five of the 10 races and taking a decisive lead in the eighth race.

Halliday entered the 11th and final race on Wednesday, with a six-point lead, needing only a top-six finish to seal gold, which he did with a fourth-place finish, ending with a net total of 33 points — seven points clear of Shanxi province’s Tang Yuanshuai, who took silver. Luo Junsuo of Jiangsu province won bronze.

On Wednesday afternoon, Yeung Tak-keung, head of the National Games Coordination Office of the Hong Kong SAR, confirmed that Victoria Park — the venue for Hong Kong’s first-ever National Games medal event — beach volleyball — is ready for its Friday opening following an inspection.

The main competition court can hold 1,300 spectators, with a secondary court seating 400. It will be “the highest-standard venue for beach sports ever seen in Hong Kong”, Yeung said.

While ticket sales for the semi-finals and finals are progressing well, many for the preliminary matches are still available, Yeung added, encouraging members of the public to buy tickets once the match schedule is released.

Contact the writer at wanqing@chinadailyhk.com