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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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