Siobhan Haughey, Edgar Cheung Ka-long named ‘Best of the Best’ at Cathay Hong Kong Sports Stars Awards
- Double Olympic silver medallist Haughey vows to be role model for Hong Kong’s next generation of athletes after winning women’s category
- Tokyo fencing gold medalist Cheung Ka-long tells his fans to ‘never give up’ after being named the men’s winner at ceremony in Wan Chai
Double Olympic silver medallist Siobhan Haughey vowed to become a role model for Hong Kong youngsters after she won her first Cathay Pacific Best of the Best Sports Stars award on Wednesday.
Haughey took the most votes among the five top female sports stars of 2021, a list that comprised the 24-year-old swimmer, track cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze, fencer Vivian Kong Man-wai, table tennis player Doo Hoi-kem and karate exponent Grace Lau Mo-sheung.
Tokyo foil champion Cheung Ka-long – Hong Kong’s first male Olympic gold medallist – also won his first Best of the Best award at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.
Fencer Cheung came first among the five men’s sports stars of the year, beating table tennis player Wong Chun-ting, gymnast Shek Wai-hung, karate athlete Lau Chi-ming – the elder brother of Grace Lau – and para-badminton athlete Chu Man-kai, a silver medallist at the Tokyo Paralympics in the men’s SH6 singles.
Nominations for the four awards categories – which also included team events, and team-only sports – were made by 33 Hong Kong sports associations. The winners were decided by a judging panel – which had 50 per cent of the vote – as well as the media and the public, who had 20 and 30 per cent of the vote respectively.
“When I read the messages and saw the video footage of Hong Kong people watching my race in Tokyo, I felt so emotional,” said Haughey, who clinched the 100m and 200m freestyle silver medals at the 2020 Olympic Games.