Sarah Lee hits out at young riders for ‘not showing enough commitment and determination’
- Double world champion not impressed by the younger generation of cyclists
- Cycling hero wants them to show better professionalism if they want to reach the top
Sarah Lee Wai-sze hit out at Hong Kong’s younger generation of cyclists, saying they lack the discipline and commitment required to become world-class athletes.
Racing at the Tseung Kwan O velodrome for the first time since the Six Day Series in March, Lee had few problems winning the women’s sprint at the annual Hong Kong Championships track events with a 2-0 victory over Jessica Lee Hon-yan in the best-of-three final.
In the previous round, Hong Kong’s top rider – almost certain to qualify for next year’s Tokyo Olympic Games in the sprint and keirin – beat 19 year-old Yeung Cho-yiu, who is returning to competition after leaving the sport earlier this year.
Double world champion Lee said the talented Yeung has plenty of room for improvement but questioned whether young riders possessed the determination and commitment in sports shown by the likes of herself and retired Wong Kam-po to succeed at the highest level.
“Many new riders have come and gone over the past couple of years,” said Lee, who oftens gives her time to train junior team members. “There are too many attractions these days, especially for our young generation of riders.
“You can see many of them only focus on playing their mobile phone after racing, not spending time watching or studying other riders in other competitions.
“The road for an athlete is always difficult and you need strong discipline and determination to succeed. For an athlete to reach Asian standard, he or she may get slightly over HK$10,000 as salary but he has no time to meet his friends or even their families in the weekend.
“He may easily choose another career in which he may earn less. Maybe I set the standard too high but I haven’t seen any young athlete who is willing to make such sacrifices for their sporting career.”
With the Tokyo Olympics qualification campaign at its halfway stage, Lee is focusing on securing more points so that Hong Kong can send two riders to Tokyo in each of the individual sprint and keirin – with Jessica Lee the other likely candidate.
Lee will be taking part in next month’s Japan International Track Cup in Izu, the same city that will host the track cycling events at the Olympic Games.
“The venue will not be the same as the Tokyo Olympics but it will be good for me to get familiar with the conditions there,” she said. “I have been there a number times in the Asian Junior Academy during my younger days but I hope to gather more information as the Olympic Games are what matters to me the most.”
The six-round 2019-2020 World Cup series will begin in November with the best results from three rounds counting towards the Olympic qualification. Results from the Asian Championships in October and the 2020 World Championships in Berlin are also factors in the qualifying process.
The Hong Kong Championships will continue on Sunday with Lee featuring in the keirin and three other events, including the 500-metre time trial, team sprint and scratch.
