Tokyo 2020: Setback for Hong Kong marathon runner Christy Yiu as she pulls out of Asian championships because of injury
- Yiu was hoping for a strong performance in nearby Dongguan city to boost her ranking and enhance her Olympic qualifying chances
- Officials remain upbeat the 2016 Rio Olympian can find other races to set a fast time and take her pace in Tokyo
Long-distance runner Christy Yiu Kit-ching’s hopes of qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games suffered a setback after injury forced her to pull out of Sunday’s Asian Marathon Championships.
Officials, though, remain upbeat about her chances of running for Hong Kong at the Olympics despite a bone stress problem on the second metatarsal of her right foot stopping her from competing in neighbouring Dongguan, China.
“She wants to achieve another good result to boost her world ranking but now she will have to wait a bit longer,” said Simon Yeung Sai-mo, senior vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association. “She has only raced once during the qualification campaign but we believe Yiu is a quality runner and has the ability to make it.
“She will now have to discuss with her coach what her next target will be but fortunately there is no bone fracture and she should be fine to run again soon.”
Yiu set a Hong Kong record at the Gold Coast marathon in Australia this summer – her first race after the 2016 Rio Olympic Games – when she clocked two hours, 34 minutes and seven seconds to finish sixth. She took more than a minute off the old mark set by Chan Man-yee in 2004.
Last month, she bettered her own half-marathon Hong Kong record by five seconds, clocking 1:12:52 in Setagaya, Tokyo. She was then in Kagoshima for a training camp to prepare for the Asian championships.