The last time: wushu exponent Geng Xiaoling comes out of retirement to lead Hong Kong team for Jakarta Asian Games
The 34-year-old has answered an SOS call to rescue the Hong Kong team, who have been weakened by the absence of three ineligible world champions
Retired wushu exponent Geng Xiaoling has been called up to the Hong Kong wushu squad more than two years after she quit competing to become a coach.
The Wushu Union has asked 34-year-old Geng, a two-time Asian Games medallist, to fly the Hong Kong flag again after the squad was depleted in strength when three current wushu world champions became ineligible for the Jakarta competition.
The trio was part of a Hong Kong team that won five gold medals at last year’s World Championships in Kazan, Russia but are ineligible for the Asian Games because they haven’t fulfilled the seven-year residency requirement to represent the city.
Under this predicament, the Union issued an SOS call to Geng for help. The situation became bleak when another wushu expert, Zheng Tianhui, was reluctant to come out of retirement, which means Geng will need to showcase her skills eight years after she claimed an Asian Games gold medal in the changquan in Guangzhou in 2010.
Geng was also the sole medal winner from Hong Kong – a silver in changquan – at the Incheon Games in 2014.
