Leung reclaims golden moment
HONG KONG struck gold at the World Wushu Championships with star exponent Leung Yat-ho regaining his crown in the nanquan event in Maryland yesterday.
Leung won the world title in Japan in 1992, but only finished third in 1993 in Malaysia behind arch-rival He Qiang and local favourite Phoon Chee Kong.
The 27-year-old Leung, who won a silver medal at last year's Asian Games in the same event, regained his crown in the absence of He, who gave the Maryland championships a miss.
Leung's polished routine earned him the admiration of the judges and the territory's first medal of the championships.
Leung's winning score was 9.71 and he said: 'I had expected He to be absent from this tournament, but I tried not to get over confident.
'I still trained hard thinking it wasn't going to be easy to win the title. It's nice to regain it after three years. I was always confident of winning it back.' China included Lang Rongpiao in the team for the event, but according to reports he failed to impress. Some put that down to the fact that he was new to the world scene and does not have the international experience to merit respect.
Hong Kong also celebrated by winning their second medal of the championships, a bronze in the women's sword won by Ng Siu-ching.
Ng and Leung are the territory's best hopes in Maryland and Ng did not disappoint. She has more chances for medals in the spear routine and the nanquan.
Hong Kong officials are confident that international debutant Lo Nga-ting can also get among the medals in the women's changquan, broadsword and cudgel events.
