Tokyo 2020: Hong Kong rower Winne Hung faces world champion after surviving repechage

Name: Inside the Tokyo 2020 Olympics opening ceremony
Uploaded: 2021-07-24T02:04:48.000Z
Duration: 5 min 33 s
Description: Inside the Tokyo 2020 Olympics opening ceremony

Olympic debutant cruises through to quarter-finals in second row, 12 seconds ahead of third-place finisher

Medal favourites Sanita Puspure of Ireland and Kara Kohler of USA stand in the way of dream semi-final spot

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Hong Kong’s Winne Hung qualifies for the quarter-finals of the women’s single sculls at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday morning. Photo: AP Photo

Jonathan White

Published: 10:04am, 24 Jul 2021Updated: 10:14am, 24 Jul 2021

Hong Kong rower Winne Hung Wing-yan marched into the quarter-finals of the women’s single sculls after finishing second in her repechage on Saturday morning, but she will face a stern test to reach the semis.

Hung, making her Olympic debut, was second-fastest behind Milena Venega Cancio of Cuba in the third repechage race at the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo Bay.

The Hong Kong Sports Institute athlete’s time of 8:23.58 was almost 6.5 seconds behind the Cuban rower but comfortably ahead of Uganda’s Kathleen Noble, who came home third in 8:36.01.

Hung now goes up against China’s Jiang Yan, who finished second in their first round heat, and two of the medal favourites – Ireland’s Sanita Puspure and Kara Kohler, of the USA.

The Latvian-born Puspure, who moved to Ireland in 2006, was back-to-back single sculls world champion in 2018 and 2019 and back-to-back European champion in 2019 and 2020.

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Inside the Tokyo 2020 Olympics opening ceremony

However, the 39-year-old’s best finish this season was third at the World Cup race in Lucerne.