Hurdler Vera Lui seethes inside a car for an hour before blowing away her rivals at Hong Kong Athletics Series 2
- Star arrives at Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground at 8.30am expecting to run in the heats but ends up waiting to win the straight final
- Top women’s hurdler is targeting next week’s Hong Kong Championships as a chance to set a personal best and boost her Olympic qualification hopes
Vera Lui Lai-yiu arrived at the Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground at 8.30am on Saturday expecting to run in the morning. Instead, she spent an angry hour inside a car calming herself down before waiting another four hours to hear the starter’s pistol.
She took out her frustrations on the track at the Hong Kong Athletics Series 2 event, winning the women’s 100 metres hurdles in 13.51 seconds in what turned out to be a straight final. Lui said she was supposed to run a heat in the morning and was looking forward to running two races in a day.
“There was supposed to be two heats in the morning even if there were only eight entries,” said Lui, still unhappy with the race arrangements after her victory. “I checked the schedule the night before and it still showed the two heats there and that’s why I woke up at six in the morning to get myself prepared for the race.
“Indeed, I haven’t started two races in one day for a long period of time because of the pandemic and was really looking forward to it.
“This was pretty annoying as you were focused on your preparation but suddenly the race did not happen. On the bright side, it can enrich your experience in handling different situations especially during the pandemic when races are often cancelled. Maybe this is how we grow as an athlete.”
Organisers said they only had six athletes turning up for the race and therefore ran a straight final. Despite the hiccup, Lui was not too disappointed with the result, although it was outside her personal best of 13.32 seconds.
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“There was a tailwind in the morning but it changed to head wind when we raced,” said the 26-year-old. “I did not do very well in the opening stages of the race, failing to keep focused and that cost me some time. But our major target will still be the Hong Kong Championships next week as I hope to achieve a personal best to boost my Olympic qualification hopes.”
Coach Tang Hon-sing said the pre-race target was 13.40 seconds but the result was still acceptable. Lui will compete overseas to boost her qualification ranking after the Hong Kong Championships. A meeting in Finland under World Athletics’s continental tour gold is planned in June and if not possible, a bronze tour in Kazakhstan would be considered.
In the men’s 110-metre hurdles, Hong Kong record holder Chan Chung-wang clocked 14.20 seconds as he swept to victory in his first race in 15 months because of the pandemic and injury. His record is 13.74.
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“I hurt my legs when I got back to training in January and only resumed formal practice last month,” said the 2019 Hong Kong male athlete of the year. “The time is okay but a bit disappointed that I failed to apply some of the skills that I learned during training.”
In the men’s 100 metres, Lee Hong-kit set a personal best 10.50 to win the race. Pre-event favourite Ng Ka-fung did not compete with his target set for next week’s Hong Kong Championships, the biggest domestic event.
