National Games: Lau Chi-ming inspired by sister Grace Lau’s Olympic success in search of karate medal after disappointing day
- Olympic bronze medallist Grace Lau first learned kata from her older brother, who now seeks a medal at Nationals
- Hong Kong endures a difficult day in China with losses for beach volleyball team and speed climbers
Karate exponent Lau Chi-ming is keen to imitate the success of his younger sister at the Olympics as Hong Kong pins its hopes on the sport after a disappointing set of results at the National Games on Friday.
Both Lau and Jamie Lee Ka-wai will kick off their campaigns at the Xian Engineering University on Saturday, with Lau in the men’s kata while Lee competes the men’s 75kg kumite.
Grace Lau Mo-sheung, who grabbed a bronze medal in the women’s kata for Hong Kong at the Tokyo Games this summer, first learned the sport from her older brother.
“My sister has sacrificed a lot of time and effort, including a closed training camp in the United States before reaching her Olympic success,” said Lau before his departure to Shenzhen for a 21-day quarantine ahead of the Games. “Her result shows Hong Kong athletes can do well in kata and this will also be my target in the National Games.”
Lau says fear of regret drove her to grab ‘only chance’ for Olympic medal
Hong Kong won three karate medals at the last National Games in Tianjin and they all came in kata, including Grace Lau’s bronze. Grace Lau had also entered this year’s National Games but pulled out of the event due to injury.
“My form is still there after the Olympic qualification and with all my experience on the international stage, I have set my sights on winning a medal in Xian,” Lee said before his departure.
Hong Kong athletes, meanwhile, endured a difficult day as the Games progressed on Friday.
Karate exponent Lee Ka-wai makes a last-ditch attempt to qualify for Tokyo
In Tianjin, both the men’s and women’s sabre fencing teams suffered early exits as they were eliminated in the first bout. After not requiring to go through qualification to reach the Games, Hong Kong’s men’s team had to take out Henan for a place in the quarter-finals, but were beaten 45-39. The women’s team suffered the same fate going down 45-29 to Shandong in the round of 16.
In sport climbing, Wong Cheuk-nam and Sohji Chan Cheung-chi finished in 17th and 19th place respectively in the men’s speed qualifiers and failed to reach the knockout stage of 16 climbers. Chan will go again in the two-event combined on Saturday, along with Au Chi-fung, the flag bearer for Hong Kong at the opening ceremony on Wednesday.
Hong Kong also went down in beach volleyball as Kong Cheuk-yee and To Wing-tung lost their opening group E match 21-15, 21-10 to their Shandong opponents. The group also features Ningxia, Hainan and Chongqing.
