Hong Kong 4x100m relay team aiming high for 2013

The Hong Kong men's 4x100 metres relay team aim to make amends next year after failing to reach the final at the London Olympic Games this summer.

Tang Yik-chun, Lai Chun-ho, Ng Ka-fung, Tsui Chi-ho and reserve Ho Man-lok had hoped to for a top-eight in London but had to settle for 10th. They had qualified as the fastest team from Asia for London with a Hong Kong record of 38.47 seconds but clocked a modest 38.61 seconds at the Olympics.

"We have to put the Olympic Games behind us and look to the new challenges ahead," said Tsui, who is also the Hong Kong 100m record holder with a time of 10.28 seconds.

"I think we still have plenty of room for improvement as we are a pretty young team. We're looking forward to 2013 when we will be competing at four major meetings. It's going to be a great test for us."

Hong Kong will compete at the Asian championships in India in July, followed by the world championships in Moscow, the National Games in Liaoning and the East Asian Games in Tianjin.

"We won a silver medal at the Asian championships in Japan last year, which was also the first medal for Hong Kong in the Asian event," said Tsui. "And we expect stiff challenges from Japan, China and South Korea this time.

"The world championships will be a good learning experience before we compete in the two events in China."

Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association senior vice-chairman Simon Yeung Sai-mo said the team would also have other opportunities to compete overseas before the four major meetings.

"Before, we spent a lot of time competing on the mainland but now we also want the team to test themselves in other countries," said Yeung.

"We plan to compete in Japan and Australia and hopefully it can help improve our results."

Meanwhile, the team were rewarded for their efforts at the Olympics with a cheque of HK$250,000 from the association yesterday.