Cyclist Wong Kam-po won Hong Kong its first China National Games gold medal yesterday after an exciting head-to-head duel in the men's 180-kilometre individual road race.
Wong clocked four hours, 10 minutes and 7.5 seconds - 0.34 of a second ahead of top mainland rider Tang Xuezhong from Beijing.
The gold medal effort will guarantee Wong a financial windfall of $500,000.
Tianjin's Zhang Hao came third with a time of four hours, 10 minutes and 27 seconds.
Wong, who won the 170-kilometre individual road race at last year's Chinese National Championships, held his own in the leading peloton for the first nine laps of the 15-lap race.
The Hong Kong ace, shadowed by Tang, then went up a gear in the 10th lap as they gradually moved more than one minute ahead of the rest of the pack, which included Hong Kong riders Man Wai-chung, Hung Chung-yam and Leung Chi-hang.
