Twenty-four hours after his exertions in winning bronze in the men's 169.4km road race, Wong Kam-po returned to competition an exhausted rider at the velodrome yesterday. The Hong Kong ace raced once in qualifying for the 4km individual pursuit quarter-finals, but he withdrew from the event, citing muscle soreness and tiredness.
Wong's battle with fatigue showed all too clearly as he clocked a time that was the slowest of the eight qualifiers - almost 20 seconds slower than Vadim Kravchenko who is strongly tipped to win today's gold medal playoff at Geumjeong Park.
'There's no point trying to push myself for a lost cause. I would rather conserve my energy for my next event. I was also up against the number one-ranked rider [Kravchenko] in the event and there was no point trying to beat somebody you can't beat,' said Wong, who will compete in the 30km points race with Ho Siu-lun on Monday.
'I think it would be fairer for myself and for Siu-lun if I was in top form for the points race. I don't want to wear myself out. I would rather fully recuperate from the road race and be fresh for my next race.'
Wong had done the SAR proud when he won bronze in the road race on Thursday, despite riders from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan working together to prevent him from winning.
Wong easily reached the individual pursuit quarter-final after getting an automatic berth when his opponent from Indonesia withdrew. But the 1998 Asian Games road race champion still needed to clock a time in order to officially qualify - but he clearly looked a shadow of himself.
'He must recuperate and rest his tired muscles because physically it is too much for him to compete,' said Hong Kong coach Shen Jinkang. 'The organisers changed the schedule for the road race, making it difficult for riders to make the transition from road racing to track racing. Originally, the road race was supposed to have been held on Wednesday but it was put back a day for no apparent reason. That gave Ah-Po less than 24 hours rest to compete on the track. That is not enough time to recover from our previous race [on the road].'
