Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, president of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee, and table tennis duo Ko Lai-chak and Li Ching light the flame during the Asian Games torch relay at Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai yesterday. Twenty-two top athletes figured in the torch relay yesterday. But conspicuous by her absence was Lee Lai-shan - Hong Kong's only Olympic gold medallist. San San, who won windsurfing gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and is the defending Asian Games gold medal champion, was missing in action as the flame was carried from Tsim Sha Tsui to Golden Bauhinia Square outside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. San San stopped competing after the birth of her daughter last year. She has already said she will not take part in December's Asian Games in Doha, but it is not known if she will return to action and take part in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Yesterday's torch relay began with tenpin bowler Wu Siu-hong running the first leg from the Urban Council Centenary Garden in Tsim Sha Tsui. Athens Olympic Games silver medallists, Ko and Li, were given the honour of finishing the relay and lighting the flame at Bauhinia Square.
