Sporting 'Oscar' winners Law Hiu-fung and Lee Ka-man opened their season in great style in Spain as the Hong Kong team made a strong start to their Olympic qualification campaign.Top male sculler Law surprised his rivals by qualifying for the final of the heavyweight single sculls event at the 10th FISA Team Cup in Seville on Saturday - a 1,000-metre event which traditionally marks the start of the rowing season.
Twenty-year-old Law - who has moved up into the open category this season as his specialist lightweight singles will not be offered in Athens - won his heat in a time of 3:29.14, ahead of competitors from Ireland, Spain, Sweden and Estonia. He went on to finish eighth in the final in 3:33.77. Mathew Wells of Great Britain was first in 3:17.59, just under a second off the course record.
'I have gained some weight to move up into the open category for this season but am still much lighter than many of the top European athletes in the event,' said Law. 'To be able to keep pace with them and make the finals is a great boost for my confidence and shows my technical ability is solid.'
Law won a Hong Kong Sports Star Award last week for his bronze medal effort at the world under-23 championships in Belgrade, an unprecedented achievement for a Hong Kong athlete.
Junior Sports Star Award winner Lee Ka-man was unlucky to miss a place in the final of the women's lightweight single sculls event. Lee, fourth in her heat in a time of 4:01.16, missed the cut by just over a second. At 17, however, she is still a junior this season and was the youngest competitor in the event, which was won by a German in 3:50.00. The men's lightweight double sculls pair of So Sau-wah and Lo Ting-wai and the women's lightweight double of Sze Po-ying and Fung Kwai-yuk both missed the finals. The men were particularly unlucky as they hit a buoy shortly after the start.
On Sunday, the Hong Kong crews took to the water again in the International Regatta of Andalucia - the Spanish open sprint championships. Making up for their mishap the previous day, So and Lo qualified for the final and went on to finish fourth in 1:32.79. Lee starred again, qualifying for the final as one of the two fastest losers in a time of 2:02.37. She finished eighth in the final in a much slower 2:06.70.
