Vera Lui wins her 100m hurdles final in a disappointing 13.55 seconds at wet Hong Kong Championships
- Hong Kong’s top hurdler didn’t have a lead up race going into final after heat was cancelled when two runners turned up late at Wan Chai Sports Ground
Hurdler Vera Lui Lai-yiu failed to better her personal best time in the women’s 100 metres hurdles at the Asics Hong Kong Athletics Championships after unforeseen circumstances scuppered her bid.
Lui had appeared confident of bettering her best mark of 13.32 set at the Asian Championships a fortnight ago but her hopes were dashed by Sunday’s wet weather and the fact that she qualified straight into the final without running a heat.
The heat was cancelled after two young runners missed the deadline by less than a minute, meaning she didn’t have a lead up race going into the final. In the end, she won the race, but clocked a mediocre 13.55 seconds.
“The weather and other conditions were far better on Saturday and we had already warmed up for the heats,” said a disappointed Lui, who won the race under grey skies with rain puddles on the track. “I was ready to put up another good race but then we found out there were insufficient runners for the two heats after two young athletes turned up late.
“We could still have had the race under better conditions if we had been given some flexibility as we understand the two young athletes were late by less than a minute. The organisers have done nothing wrong as they followed the rules. It’s always good to be punctual, especially for athletes.”
Hong Kong’s top hurdler will now target the Taiwan Open later this month in a bid to improve her best mark, with the ultimate target of breaking the Hong Kong record of 13.14 set by Chan Sau-ying in the United States in 1994.
“I need to compete against top runners to get the best out of me just like the Asian Championships when I bettered my PB,” said Lui. “The Taiwan Open invites quality hurdlers such as 2018 Asian Games champion Jung Hyelim of South Korea and American Queen Harrison. They both appeared at the 2018 event. They also have home runner Hsieh His-en, who lost to me at this year’s Asian Championships but set a personal best 13.30 last week. It should be a strong field again this year.”
Lui’s biggest target this year will be the World University Games to be held in Napoli, Italy in July. Lui will be hoping to improve on her disappointing 18th place at the last event when it was held in Taipei two years ago.
Meanwhile, high jumper Cecilia Yeung Man-wai has decided not to compete in the next two months after turning in another disappointing performance at the meet.
The 24-year-old starlet cleared only 1.77 metres to finish third in the event, far behind invited high jumper, Nadiya Dusanova, of Uzbekistan, the reigning Asian champion who won the event with a leap of 1.87 metres.
“I want to focus on training to improve my skills. I need more time,” said Yeung. “I have made some adjustments in my skill set but I found it difficult to apply it when I jump around 1.8 metres. I need to spend more time on training to make it happen during competition.”
Yeung will miss the Taiwan Open and the Asia Grand Prix in China next month after discussion with her coach. She said she hopes to return to competition at the Hong Kong Asia Inter-City Championships at Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground in late June.
Meanwhile Cheung Pui-yin improved his Hong Kong men’s pole vault record by one centimetre to 4.42 metres. He set his previous best last week.
