The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region delegation bagged four medals on Tuesday at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, with swimming star Siobhan Haughey winning another gold.
As of 7 pm on Tuesday, the SAR had won 12 medals — three golds, five silvers and four bronzes — securing sixth place in the gold-medal standing and a tie for fourth in the overall medal tally.
Hong Kong sent about 580 athletes to compete in 38 events at the Asian Games, which began in mid-September and will run through Oct 4.
Haughey topped the women’s 100-meter freestyle event on Tuesday afternoon, bagging the third gold medal for the SAR delegation and her second gold at the tournament.
Haughey, who holds the event’s Asian record, reached the finishing line in 52.45 seconds, followed by Yu Yiting and Cheng Yujie of China’s national team.
Dubbed “the flying fish”, Haughey won a gold in the women’s 200m freestyle event on Monday, and a silver with the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team. She will continue her medal-hunting journey in Thursday’s 50m freestyle event.
The SAR’s fencing team also made its debut on Tuesday, with foil fencer Ryan Choi Chun-yin, who holds seventh place in the world rankings, remaining unbeaten until the final, where he faced Japan’s world No 5-ranked Kazuki Iimura.
Iimura opened with four straight points, but Choi rallied to level at 12-12 before ultimately failing 13-15, taking his first Asian Games individual silver medal.
At the same event, Choi’s fellow fencer, two-time Olympic gold medalist Edgar Cheung Ka-long, was knocked out in the round of 32.
Wushu athlete Lau Chi-lung also secured a silver medal, with 19.456 points in the men’s Nanquan and Nangun event — the second wushu medal won by the SAR delegation.
Lau, 26, returned to the same event after finishing 11th in his Asian Games debut in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, in 2023. He first scored 9.73 points in the Nanquan event to place third before adding 9.726 points in the subsequent Nangun competition.
Cyclist Chloe Leung Wing-yee clinched a bronze medal in the women’s road race event. The 90.4-kilometer race featured 40 competitors, including three from the SAR — Kwan Tsz-kwan, 25th place; and Guardiola Cheung Li-tong, 31st place.
Leung, 30, crossed the finish line in two hours 50 minutes and 46 seconds — 41 seconds behind Chinese-mainland champion Guo Li.
Each individual champion will receive HK$1 million ($127,490) from the Jockey Club Athlete Incentive Awards Scheme, with the silver and bronze medalists being awarded HK$500,000 and HK$250,000 respectively.
The city’s delegation clinched a record 53 medals — eight golds, 16 silvers and 29 bronzes — in the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023. Local athletes will continue competing in swimming, cycling, karate and other events on Wednesday.
Contact the writer at stacyshi@chinadailyhk.com
