Tear gas, a huge fire and tempers flare but Lee Cheuk-yiu keeps his cool to win Hong Kong Open men’s singles title
- The 23-year-old manages to keep his composure despite riot police and protesters battling outside the Coliseum
- He becomes the second Hong Kong player to win the men’s singles crown after Angus Ng
Amid the incredible scenes outside the stadium as tempers flared between protesters and riot police, youngster Lee Cheuk-yiu kept his cool on Sunday.
The vicinity of the Coliseum, which hosted the US$400,000 Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open, became the scene of one of the most fiercely fought battles the city has seen since the anti-government protests raged last summer, yet 23-year-old Lee kept his composure.
And even when he faced one match point against Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting, the home favourite battled back from adversity to become only the second home player to lift the men’s singles title at the World Tour 500 tournament.
With backing from a strong partisan crowd, Lee defeated Ginting 16-21, 21-10, 22-20 to complete a fairy-tale run in becoming the second Hong Kong player after Angus Ng Ka-long to win the Hong Kong Open. Ng won the title in 2016.
While warming up for the biggest match of his life, Lee knew the fiery situation outside the Coliseum in Hung Hom was getting out of hand as protesters set fire to the footbridge linking Polytechnic University and Hung Hom Stadium and tear gas was continuously fired by police.
