I’ll prove myself with my athletic ability rather than my looks, says Cecilia Yeung

Media sensation Cecilia Yeung Man-wai will be using her athletic prowess rather than her good looks to convince doubters she is a top high jumper when she competes in the Asian Championships for the first time in Bhubaneswar, India on Friday.

The 22 year-old, who leaped to a new Hong Kong record 1.88 metres at the 2017 Asia Grand Prix final leg in Taiwan two months ago, can medal at the zonal championships if she can maintain her good form.

A part-time model who is getting massive media exposure recently, Yeung hopes people will pay more attention to her results on the athletics field.

Hong Kong so far has won only one gold medal at the championships through the men’s 4x100 metre relay in 2013 and it would be a major breakthrough for Yeung if she can emulate that success as an individual competitor.

“The Asian Championships is one of the three major events for me this year,” said Yeung before her departure. “It would be great if I can achieve a good result in India but I would rather look for a stable performance against the region’s best. There is always room for improvement but getting where you are supposed to be in a real competition is not easy.”

The marketing student at the University of Hong Kong will also take part in next month’s World University Games in Taipei and the National Games in Tianjin from August 27 to September 8.

“We don’t want to give her too much pressure as there has been a lot of attention on her from the media,” said Amateur Athletic Association senior vice chairman Simon Yeung Sai-mo. “She is still a very young athlete and we can expect a lot more from her when she becomes more mature.”

Sprinters Tsui Chi-ho and Ng Ka-fung, meanwhile, will be testing themselves when the men’s 100 metres kicks off on Thursday.

Hong Kong record holder Tsui has been struggling to improve his personal best time of 10.28 seconds while fast-improving Ng, who set a personal record of 10.31 seconds at the Hong Kong Championships in April, was confident of improving his own in India.

Hong Kong has sent a team of 15 athletes to India which also include Chan Ming-tai in the men’s long jump and Lui Lai-yiu in the women’s 100 metre hurdles.