In 1972, Eric Liddell, who worked in the telephone industry, and Saco Delgado claimed gold in the pairs event of the world championships in Scotland. It was the first of four world titles for Hong Kong in lawn bowls. Liddell was part of the men’s fours team who won the 1980 title, also featuring Omar Dallah, George Souza and Philip Chok. In 1977, Helen Wong and Elvie Chok took the women’s pairs world crown and four years later, Lena Sadick, Rae O’Donnell and Linda King won the world triples title for Hong Kong.

Windsurfing 1993 – Lee Lai-shan, women’s mistral

Lee, also known as San San, was the first athlete from Hong Kong who won an Olympic medal of any colour when she won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in the women’s mistral competition.

But long before her Olympic success, she had already proved she had the ability to be among the best in the world. After taking a silver medal at the 1990 Beijing Asian Games, she continued her progress on the international stage and three years later, won the world title in Japan.

She became Hong Kong’s first world champion in an Olympic sport, raising hopes of a first medal at the Atlanta Games and the Cheung Chau native did not let her fans down as she made history for the city at the sailing venue in Savannah.

Wushu 1993 – Li Fai, women’s changquan and cudgel

Li made her international debut for Hong Kong at the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing. A year later, at the 1991 World Championships, she won a silver medal in gunshu and bronze medals in changquan and qiangshu.

After missing out on gold, she was determined to make amends at the 1993 World Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. And she did not disappoint, finally clinching her world titles when she won golds in changquan and cudgel. She also captured a bronze medal in jianshu. With these victories, she decided to continue her competitive career after earlier saying she may quit the sport to focus on her role as a stunt actor in the film industry.

Cycling 2007 – Wong Kam-po, men’s scratch race

Wong was the first Hong Kong rider, in 1991, to win the Asian junior road race and he has since grown in stature to become a household name in Hong Kong sport. Although he was unable to win an Olympic medal in his five appearances at the Games since Atlanta 1996, his feat at the 2007 World Championships in Mallorca, Spain was a special achievement for an Asian rider.

After qualifying from the heats, the Hong Kong cyclist was still largely dismissed by his rivals in the 22-rider field for the 60-lap, 15km final. Even when Wong attacked and took the lead with nine laps remaining, the peloton allowed him to go out on his own with no rider making an effort to haul him back. But they soon regret their failure to act. The runaway leader from Hong Kong proved he had the legs to complete the race.

Four years later in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, another Hong Kong rider, Kwok Ho-ting, followed suit and won the same event at the World Championships.

Cycling 2013 – Sarah Lee Wai-sze, women’s time trial

Lee had already established herself as a world-class track cyclist after winning keirin bronze at the 2012 London Olympics. So, it was hardly a surprise when she lifted the time trial gold medal at the 2013 World Championships in Minsk, Belarus.

She completed the two-lap, 500 metre event in 33.973 seconds, using her strong legs to beat a bunch of riders from Europe. But she didn’t stop there. At the 2019 World Championships in Poland, she claimed two gold medals in the sprint and keirin. Had it not been for the one-year delay in staging the 2020 Tokyo Games because of the coronavirus pandemic, she might have been added two more Olympic gold medals to her collection.

Snooker 2015 – Ng On-yee

Born into a snooker family, Ng took up snooker at the age of 13 after being impressed by her father’s skill at the game and lured by the smart clothes snooker players wore at the table.

At the 2015 World Women’s Championship, she defeated England’s dominate player of the past decade, Reanne Evans in the semi-finals on her way to the title.

After losing to Evans in the final the next year, Ng roared back to claim her second world crown in 2017, defeating Evans 5–4 in the semi-final and overcoming India’s Vidya Pillai 6–5 in a protracted final. She claimed her third world title in 2018.

Tenpin Bowling 2015 – Wu Siu-hong, men’s event

Wu discovered he had testicular cancer 20 months before he claimed the world title in Las Vegas at the age of 31. He was assured by doctors the disease was curable because it was still in the early stage, but he was still very worried. He said staying in hospital with other cancer patients, who were also suffering, was a horrible experience.

Soon after his treatment, he returned to where he felt most comfortable – the bowling alleys. His experience with the illness only made him stronger and he is happy to be seen as an inspiration to many people, especially after winning the prestigious 51st Qubica AMF World Cup to become the first Hong Kong bowler to win the world title.