Hong Kong gymnast Angel Wong looks to ‘show my best’ after securing a place in Liverpool World Championships
- With her main focus being the Asian Championships in June and the Hangzhou Asian Games in September, Wong considers the World Championships in Liverpool a bonus
- ‘I’m excited to be able to attend another world championship and hope I can show my best,’ she says
Despite the many odds, including recurring injury, Hong Kong gymnast Angel Wong Hiu-ying has secured a ticket to the Liverpool World Championships in October, alongside star vaulter Shek Wai-hung.
Wong, now stuck in Baku, Azerbaijan, due to a flight ban, was set to return to Hong Kong via Dubai on April 4 after finishing 26th at the Baku World Cup. The 34-year-old gymnast is now waiting for her chance to return.
“It is out of my control but I am grateful that we can keep training for a few sessions in Baku,” said Wong, who will fly back to Hong Kong next Monday, while the Hong Kong men’s team head to Poland for training.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) recently released the final ranking of each apparatus after the final leg of Baku World Cup, and both Shek and Wong qualified for October’s World Championships, finishing seventh in men’s vault and eleventh in women’s balance beam, respectively.
“I’m excited to be able to attend another world championship and hope I can show my best there,” said Wong, who claimed bronze at the Doha World Cup last month, and has completed all four legs of the 2022 World Cup series.
With her main focus being the Asian Championships in June and the Hangzhou Asian Games in September, Wong considers the World Championships in Liverpool a bonus.
For the last two legs of the World Cup series in Cairo and Baku, Wong performed with a downgraded routine due to the knee injury she picked up while training in Doha last month.
“I am still dealing with some ongoing issues in my hip and knee, but I hope I can try some new skills and sequences in the Asian Championships to see what works better for the Asian Games,” Wong said.
Wong is now seeking a full-time coach to lead the women’s balance beam, after her former coach Luo Yuping resigned before the World Cup series.
“It is really challenging to go to consecutive competitions with no coach,” she said. “Although I am a mature athlete and even a (part-time) coach myself, I sometimes still need someone to give me technical pointers and instant feedback,” added Wong.
Albert Ng, senior sports executive at the Gymnastics Association, said a temporary coach is currently in charge of women teams, and the Hong Kong Sports Institute is looking for a suitable candidate.
