Tokyo Olympics: China’s golden day in stark contrast to Hong Kong’s early disappointment

China made a perfect start to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Saturday, winning three golds and setting a host of records in the process, while Hong Kong’s athletes had a disappointing day where their medal hopes faded early. Yang Qian led the way for China, winning the first gold of the Games, in the women’s 10m air rifle with a new Olympic record score of 251.8. “It’s the 100th birthday of the Chinese Communist Party,” she said. “I’m so happy that this golden medal is a gift to my country.” Hours later, Hou Zhihui dominated the women’s 49kg weightlifting competition, with a performance that included three Olympic records. The 24-year-old set two bests in the snatch, lifting 92kg with her second attempt, and 94kg moments later. Her final attempt in the clean and jerk of 116kg was a new record, as was her overall score of 210kg. “I felt very happy when I finally made it,” Hou said. “In one second all the stress disappeared. I prepared for five years so it means a lot to me.” The day ended as gloriously as it began for China, with fencer Sun Yiwen winning gold in the individual épée. But the black cloud of Covid-19 continued to hang over the Games, with Tokyo organisers adding another athlete to the total of Olympics-related cases. It now stands 127. German cyclist Simon Geschke’s positive test was announced on Friday, one day ahead before the signature men’s road race. Gold medallist Yang Qian nearly quit shooting to care for ill mother Athletes account for 14 of the cases since July 1. Among the new positive tests are 14 games contractors who live in Japan. Dutch team officials said on Saturday that rower Finn Florijn tested positive and is out of the Games., joining two other Dutch athletes who previously tested positive. Florijn’s positive test won’t show up in the official tally of cases until Sunday. China’s success was in stark contrast to Hong Kong’s, where hopes for early success in fencing and gymnastics were quickly dashed. Vivian Kong Ma-wai, the world No 7, suffered a shock loss at the hands of an épéeist ranked 251 places below her in the quarter-finals. Russian Aizanat Murtazaeva dispatched two of the city’s representatives in the individual épée, beating Kaylin Hsieh Sin-yan in the first bout, before defeating Kong 15-10. An emotional Kong said she was “really sorry for disappointing everyone”. “I know you have a lot of expectations for me, and I also have a lot to give back to the team behind us. I’m really sorry,” she said. Earlier, teammate Coco Lin Yik-hei lost to bottom seed Kiria Tikanah Abdul Rahman, of Singapore, in the first round. Lin, Kong, and Hsieh will all be back in action on Tuesday when they take on China in the first round of the team event. There will be no second chances for vaulter Stone Shek Wai-hung, however, after his qualifying session ended in disaster. Having posted an opening score of 14.716, he was on course to reach the eight-man final, but an awkward landing on his final vault not only injured his ankle, but a score of 13.833 dragged down his average, and he wasrelegated from the qualifying places during the evening session. “The build-up to the Tokyo Olympics has been running very well and Shek could have performed better today,” said coach Sergiy Agafontsev. Shek will be the second reserve in 12th place for the vault final which features the top eight gymnasts. It was not all bad news though, with the city’s athletes keeping their dreams alive in the table tennis, badminton and rowing. Wong Chun-ting and Doo Hoi-kem breezed through the first round of their mixed doubles and the fourth seeds will now face Emmanuel Lebesson and Yuan Jianan, the world No 7s from France, with a possible semi-final encounter against world number ones, Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen, of China. In the badminton, Angus Ng Ka-long eased past Lino Munoz in the men’s singles group stage, beating the Mexican in straight sets in just 33 minutes. “I am feeling good and after this match I hope I will be better and better, to fight for the last 16 place and even the quarter-final place,” Ng said. In the evening, the mixed doubles pair of Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet made a convincing start and will now take on Chinese top seeds of the group, Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping, on Sunday. The only blemish on an otherwise excellent day for China came in the football, where the women’s team blew a two-goal lead in a 4-4 draw with Zambia, a result that is likely to end their hopes of progressing beyond the group stage. Former Paris St Germain forward Wang Shuang scored all of the Steel Roses’ goals, while defender Li Qingtong was sent off late on.