Athletes from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Monday bagged six medals — including the city’s first two golds — at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, bringing this year’s medal haul to eight.

The SAR has sent around 580 athletes to compete in 38 sports at the Asian Games in Japan, running through Oct 4.

Wushu athlete Lydia Sham Hui-yu won gold in the women’s Changquan event, earning the city its first gold medal in this edition of the Asian Games.

Sham, one of the two SAR flag bearers at the event’s opening ceremony on Saturday, scored 9.713 points, beating the Macao SAR’s Sou Cho-man and Indonesia’s Eugenia Diva Widodo. Her fellow Hong Kong athlete Michelle Yeung finished fifth in her Asian Games debut.

Speaking after the competition, Sham said she was grateful to the SAR government, her coach, and her supporters, adding that she had prepared for eight years for just 90 seconds on the field.

Congratulating Sham on her victory, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said she showcased the determination of local athletes and brought honor to the city with her performance.

Olympic medalist Siobhan Haughey, dubbed Hong Kong’s “flying fish”, defended her gold title in the women’s 200-meter freestyle event. Haughey led throughout the race and finished more than a body length ahead of the runner-up, Li Jiaping from the national team, in 1 minute and 54.96 seconds.

Haughey, Asia’s record holder in the event, said she had given her all and was satisfied with the result, despite it not being as fast as she had hoped for.

In the men’s 50-meter freestyle event, Hong Kong swimmer Ian Ho Yen-tou secured a silver with a time of 21.76 seconds, only 0.1 second behind South Korean champion Kim Young-beom.

Three bronze medals were won in triathlon and karate events.

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The SAR’s triathlon mixed relay team, consisting of Cade Wright, Oscar Coggins, Bailee Brown, and Robin Elg, finished with a time of 1 hour, 27 minutes and 25 seconds.

Karate athletes Howard Hung Ho-wai and Wong Cheuk-lee each claimed a bronze — Hung in the men’s individual kata, and Wong in the women’s kumite -68 kilogram events.

The city took two silver medals on Sunday, the first competition day, by karate athlete Grace Lau Mo-sheung in the women’s individual kata event, and by the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team, composed of Gilaine Ma, Li Sum-yiu, Natalie Kan Cheuk-tung and Haughey.

The Hong Kong fencing team will make its debut on Tuesday, with athletes also competing in swimming, karate and other events.

ALSO READ: Asian Games: Sham, Haughey bag two golds as medal tally reaches eight

The city’s delegation clinched a record total of 53 medals — eight gold, 16 silver and 29 bronze — in the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023.

Contact the writer at stacyshi@chinadailyhk.com