WINDSURFER Lee Lai-shan won an unprecedented fourth Coca-Cola Sports Star of the Year award last night at the Grand Hyatt before hopping on an Israel-bound flight in search of her second world title.
The 25-year-old Lee, a medal prospect for the Atlanta Olympics, fought off a field of five other athletes who also won Sports Stars awards, three of whom were in last year's lineup of six award winners.
Table tennis players Chai Po-wa and Chan Tan-lui, and rower Ho Kim-fai won second consecutive Sports Stars awards and they were joined by cyclist Wong Kam-po and wushu artist Ng Siu-ching, who was most likely to challenge Lee for the overall prize.
Lee herself said she expected Ng, a double gold medallist at last year's World Wushu Championships, to walk away with the top prize.
'I am quite surprised because Ng is a world champion in her sport and I thought she would be the favourite,' said Lee, who won the award for the third year in succession.
'I think, possibly, the reason I won was because of my consistency. I managed to finish in the top three of all the tournaments I took part in.' Soon after receiving her prize, $30,000 for the Sports Stars award and another $30,000 for the overall title, Lee, her coach Rene Appel and Sam Wong Tak-sum boarded a plane to Haifa, Israel, for the World Championships in two weeks time.