Hong Kong riders’ ambitions still burn bright as Rio Games dream is fading

Meng Zhaojuan remains hoppeful of Bauhinia cyclists’ chances of qualifying for 2016 Olympics with final leg of World Cup series starting today at Tseung Kwan O velodrome

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Hong Kong women’s pursuit team members Meng Zhaojuan (left), Leung Bo-yee, Pang Yao and Yang Qianyu remain focused on the goal ahead of the World Cup at the Tseung Kwan O velodrome. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Published: 11:32pm, 14 Jan 2016Updated: 11:32pm, 14 Jan 2016

Meng Zhaojuan’s Olympic dream may be drifting away from her, but the cyclist is not planning to give up trying to qualify, and that means she will be giving her all as she leads the Hong Kong pursuit team in the UCI World Cup event today.

The third and final round of the world series takes place over the next three days in the state-of-the-art Tseung Kwan O velodrome, and also represents the seventh round of the Olympic qualification for Rio.

“The situation is not very comforting at the moment, but we will still put up our best effort, especially as this is the first time we have a truly world-class competition in Hong Kong,” said Meng.

Hong Kong cyclist Leung Bo-yee is ready to give it her all this weekend at the Tseung Kwan O velodrome. Photo: David Wong

“Of course, there are many advantages to racing in front of a home crowd and we have been quite stable in terms of performance over the last couple of rounds, but we won’t be expecting anything to be easy. Every team wants to go the Rio Olympics and there are only limited slots.”