Sprint relay world record rounds off Hong Kong's gold rush

A men's relay world record and gold medal rounded off a glorious Paralympic Games for Hong Kong's athletes on the last day of competition.

The group of 23 return from Atlanta tomorrow to an official welcome at Kai Tak clutching 15 medals, among them a record five golds.

Four of those were won by champion fencer Ben Cheung Wai-leung, 36, prompting Acting Governor Anson Chan Fang On-sang to praise him for bringing 'great pride and honour to the people of Hong Kong' in a letter to team manager Silas Chiang Tak-cheung.

'They have all done exceedingly well and earned international recognition for themselves and for Hong Kong,' Mrs Chan wrote.

The 4x100-metre relay runners with cerebral palsy included a 15-year-old running his first international event outside the territory.

The team of Chan Shing-chung, 27, So Wa-wai, 15, Chao Kwok-pang, 30, and Cheung Yiu-cheung, 32 (pictured from left) clocked 50.46 seconds, compared with the world able-bodied record of 37.40 seconds set by the US in 1992.