World Games: Lydia Sham grabs Hong Kong’s third gold in Chengdu with second win for wushu
City’s athletes on a historic high as triumphs in the Chinese martial art come hot on heels of Grace Lau’s karate gold the day before
Hong Kong wushu exponent Lydia Sham Hui-yu won the city’s third gold medal at the World Games in Chengdu on Saturday, following on from the win by Anthony Yeung Chung-hei earlier in the day in the same sport.
Sham’s gold in the Chinese martial art, which is also known as kung fu, came in the women’s changquan-jianshu-qiangshu combined event.
Sham won her first World Games gold with 29.260 points, ahead of Malaysia’s Pang Pui Yee, who won silver, and Japan’s Nanoha Kida on bronze.
Earlier, Yeung won the city’s second gold medal in Chengdu in the men’s taijiquan-taijijian combined event to keep the Hong Kong team on a high after Grace Lau Mo-sheung’s karate gold on Friday.
The three wins in Chengdu reinforced the city’s best-ever performance at a World Games in terms of gold medals, having previously returned with solitary golds from the 2013 and 2022 editions.
Wong Po-kee, Hong Kong’s chef de mission in Chengdu, described Sham’s win as “well deserved” and “a testament to the excellence of Hong Kong athletes”.