Olympic bronze medallist karate exponent Grace Lau Mo-sheung will use her Tokyo 2020 Games experience to dictate preparations for her World Games debut in July. The women’s kata world No 4 confirmed her qualification for the US event last weekend after a nail-biting selection process. Lau is laser focused on a podium spot at July’s event in Birmingham, Alabama, and will spend the remaining time training intensely at her Miami base, in between international WKF Karate 1 Premier League competitions. “For me, the World Games is the biggest event beyond the Olympics,” said the 30-year-old, who won a bronze at her opening Premier League event in UAE last month. “I will reflect on the way I prepared for the Olympics as a reference to prepare better for the World Games, where my goal is to medal.” Despite winning medals at last year’s Olympics, world championships, and this season’s Premier League, Lau’s entry into the World Games was entirely based on her world ranking. Lau described the quadrennial event, which includes sports not normally contested at an Olympics, as something she had “waited a long time for”. “Since the ‘world ranking system’ came to existence in 2018, I wasn’t sure what the qualification process would be,” she said. “For the World Games 2022, the world championships medallists would be directly selected through phase one. I was so excited when I won bronze again at the world championships in 2021 – unfortunately, I wasn’t selected due to the qualification system only accepting gold, silver, and the highest-ranked bronze medallists. “I was a bit disappointed – but now I’m thrilled to have qualified.” With one win this season, Lau will undoubtedly be eyeing further silverware in her Premier League campaign, whilst also confirming her intention to “make it to the Asian Games final” in September. Lau won individual kata bronze at the 2018 Asian Games. She has since won two world championships bronzes and a historic Tokyo 2020 Olympics bronze , making her by far the city’s most successful karate athlete across all disciplines. Who is Hong Kong’s Olympic karate contender Grace Lau? She is being trained by some of the world’s best, including Hong Kong Sports Institute head coach William Thomas , strength and conditioning coach Valerio Ramos Jnr, and US Olympic medallist Ariel Torres. “I’m filled with joy having achieved a medal in the first event of the year. I’ll do my best for the next one,” Lau said. “I’m beyond thankful that an abundance of Hong Kong people have supported me even though everyone is going through difficult times.”