A lung-bursting late surge by South Korean freestylist Kim Bang-hyun denied Hong Kong their first swimming medal of the Asian Games last night. Kim reeled in Hong Kong veteran Arthur Li Kai-yien with 30 metres left in an absorbing battle for bronze in the men's 4 ? 200 metres freestyle relay, widely seen as the SAR's best chance for a swimming medal. For 770 metres of last night's race, the bronze looked in the bag after an intelligent team performance from the Hong Kong quartet of Mark Kwok Kin-ming, Zac Moffatt, Alex Fong Lik-sun and Li. But Li was unable to find the finishing power needed to hold off the Korean challenge in the finishing stretch, leaving himself and his team-mates to ponder what might have been. Swimming coach Chan Yiu-hoi hailed the relay team's 'fighting spirit' and said he could not question their commitment to the squad. 'It's disappointing to lose after leading but I'm not disappointed with the performance from the team,' he said. 'They took 10 seconds off the national record in the heats this morning and they bettered that time by five seconds tonight . . . that shows they were determined to fight,' Chan said. 'It's good to see that fighting spirit. It's good for the whole morale of the squad,' he added. Chan had withdrawn Kwok from the final of the 400m individual medley to rest him for the relay later in the evening. For a while, his gamble paid off as Kwok turned in a scorching first leg of one minute and 53.04 seconds to put Hong Kong third after the opening 200 metres. Fong and Moffatt held the position but Li was unable to sustain the momentum as Hong Kong finished in 7:38.59. Elsewhere yesterday, cross-country cyclist Yeung Ka-wah was shaded for bronze as she finished in fourth in the women's event, while male teammates Brian Cook and Man Wai-chung were unable to mount a challenge in the men's race, finishing fifth and 10th respectively. In the women's judo lightweight competition, Hong Kong's Chan Mei-ling lost out to Kazue Nagai but recovered to win her repechage against Taiwan's Shih Pei-chun. Her hopes of getting into the semi-finals ended in her next bout when she was toppled by an ippon from China's Yi Ling. In the men's 66-73 kilogram event, Hong Kong's Kot Siu lost out at the first hurdle against South Korea's Kim Dae-wook and suffered another defeat against Chen Chih-ping to exit the competition at the repechage. A homesick Yang Xia created a sensation by setting two world records on her way to the gold medal in the women's 53 kgs weightlifting division. After lifting 120 kgs in the clean and jerk to overtake Chinese compatriot Wang Xiufen's record of 117.5 kgs set at the World Championships in Finland last month, Yang promptly announced she wanted to go home. 'I am looking forward to returning home now. I am missing home very much,' she said.