Speedy quartet set new Hong Kong record
Schoolboy sprinters Lau Yu-leong, Lui Ka-ho and Tang Yik-chun combined with senior runner Chung Koon-ting to break the Hong Kong record for the 4x200 metres relay during the World Athletic Day and Open Meet at Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground on Sunday.
Nearly 600 athletes joined the World Athletic Day, organised by the Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association (HKAAA), and endorsed by the International Association of Athletics Federations.
A total of 10 records - three Hong Kong, four Hong Kong junior and three HKAAA marks - were broken at the competition.
The schoolboys, representing the Watsons Athletic Club (WAC), were at their best, as the team recorded a time of 1 minute 26.29 seconds. Tang ran the fourth leg, and finished with a 60m lead over the second-placed runner.
In the women's 4x200m relay, WAC broke the old Hong Kong record of 1 minute 44.67 seconds. Leung Hau-sze, Hui Man-ling, Leung Hiu-yee and Cheng Ka-yu set a new mark of 1.43.59.
WAC also broke the Hong Kong record in the women's 4x800m with a time of 9 minutes 55.26 seconds.
Tang, a double gold medallist at the recent schools inter-port championships in Macau, also won the men's 200m individual race.
In men's javelin, Yu Chi-siu broke the Hong Kong junior record for the second time this year, stretching his own mark to 51.49m.
In the men's 100m, veteran Chiang Wai-hung edged out Tang and Lui Ka-ho with a time of 10.75 seconds. Tang timed 10.77, and Lui 10.81.
In the women's 100m race, Chan Ho-yee won the battle with her main rival Wan Kin-yee by one-hundredth of a second. Chan took the title with a time of 12.19 seconds.
The World Athletic Day was created a decade ago as a way of promoting and developing athletics in sports venues supervised by the IAAF's member federations. A total of 156 IAAF member federations took part in the 2006 IAAF World Athletic Day.
This year, the IAAF reached out directly to schools in order to encourage pupils to take part in the sport. The initiative is a result of the IAAF's determination to gradually establish athletics as the number one participation sport in schools all over the world.
Gifts, such as T-shirts and posters, were distributed, and an IAAF World Athletic Day Diploma was presented to all participants to encourage enthusiasm for the sport.
