Hong Kong’s ‘gymnast Angel’ overcomes injury woes to claim bronze at Doha World Cup

Hong Kong’s “gymnast angel” Wong Hiu-ying is flying high yet again.

The 34-year-old claimed a bronze medal in balance beam at the Doha World Cup on Saturday night and will continue her journey to the third leg of the event in Cairo later this month.

The last time Wong was on the podium at the World Cup level was in 2014 at the World Challenge Cup in Doha, where she secured bronze in the vault.

A field of 15 female gymnasts, including the reigning Olympic team gold medallist Vladislava Urazova, was competing in the qualification round where Wong finished fourth with 11.866.

After a rest day on Friday, fully-fuelled Wong scored 12.333 – based on the difficulty of 4.8 and execution of 7.533 to clinch bronze. The first two places went to two teen gymnasts, Urazova from Russia (13.200) and Nora Peresztegi from Hungary (12.733).

“Proud that I am the first who got on the podium for balance beam, this bronze medal is definitely a boost to me for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games,” Wong said.

Wong was the first Hong Kong female gymnast to reach the Olympics when she qualified for London in 2012. In addition, she has a balance beam move named after her from the London Olympics.

In July 2015, she was targeting a second Olympics in Rio, but a serious fall from the asymmetric bars in a practice session at the Asian Championships tore all the major ligaments in her left knee. It took her two years to recover.

In early 2018, Wong suffered a meniscus tear in the same knee while making a floor landing in the Hong Kong Open. This time, it took more than six months to recover from surgery.

“The knee injuries forced me to switch from vaulting to balance beam, I don’t know if it was the right choice, just do my best to give it a try,” she said.

“This bronze medal is so important, I am so happy about it, this is the best for my comeback, and it motivated me a lot for the future competitions, including Asian Games and Asian Championships.”

There are four legs of the World Cup series this season, Wong will join them all. The first leg was held in Cottbus, Germany last month, Angel was out after qualification round with 11.233 and ranked 15.

Wong will stay with her coach in Doha for nine more days before heading to Cairo, the third-leg host city.

“I have already achieved my goal in Doha and want to perform my best in the coming two legs – one in Cairo, one in Baku without any pressure.”

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong vaulters Shek Wai-hung and Ng Ka-ki will have their PCR test tomorrow (7th) in Cottbus. They had tested positive for Covid-19 before the finals of the World Cup and were isolated in the hotel.

If everything goes smoothly, Shek and Ng will join Wong in Doha and take part in the third leg of the World Cup in Cairo.