Coronavirus: Hong Kong’s Grace Lau gets early qualification ‘present’ as karate makes Olympics debut in Tokyo

The 28-year-old Lau is confirmed for Tokyo after qualification is ended early because of the coronavirus crisis sweeping the world

World number four Lau is a medal hopeful for Hong Kong after a string of solid performances

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Grace Lau can focus on her Olympic campaign now her qualification has been confirmed by the governing world body. She won a bronze medal at the 2018 Indonesia Asian Games. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:58pm, 19 Mar 2020Updated: 10:41pm, 19 Mar 2020

Karate exponent Grace Lau Mo-sheung has secured her first trip to the Olympics after the world governing body ended the qualification early for Tokyo 2020 because of the coronavirus crisis.

The 28-year-old Hong Kong Sports Institute elite athlete ranks forth in the women’s kata standings as the World Karate Federation announced its first batch of athletes who have earned qualification for the Games. She is in Miami at a training camp until the Olympics start in July.

A statement from the international federation said: “Due to the cancellation of the last qualifying tournaments because of the coronavirus outbreak, the first stage of the Olympic qualification pathway has been finalised. The four highest-ranked athletes per gender and Olympic event claim the 32 places allocated by standings”.

Karate is making its Olympic debut in Tokyo but has already been excluded from the medal programme in Paris in 2024.

Karate player Grace Lau Mo-sheung with her Asian Games bronze medal. Photo: Hong Kong Olympic Committee

“I feel both excited and happy, and will keep training hard for the Olympics no matter what happens,” said Lau, one of Hong Kong’s medal hopefuls after her solid performances on the international stage. “The training is going well here in Miami along with some top athletes from the United States and I have no plan to return to Hong Kong prior to the Olympic Games.”