Asian Karate Championships: Japan’s Hikaru Ono and Grace Lau of Hong Kong to contest final
- Olympic bronze medallist Lau progresses to her third Asian Championships final, but her opponent is the formidable Ono
- ‘We’re looking for a closely contested battle. Let’s wait and see what happens,’ head coach says
Grace Lau Mo-sheung has a chance to win her first Asian karate title in Uzbekistan on Tuesday after reaching the kata final, but she will be the underdog, with world champion and world No 1 Hikaru Ono of Japan again in her way.
Hongkonger Lau progressed through the early rounds in Tashkent on Sunday, and, after her recent promotion to world No 2, she has set her sights on a gold to add to her four previous Asian Championship medals.
The 31-year-old Olympic bronze medallist lived up to her elevated ranking by finishing first in the preliminary round over the weekend with a score of 24.08, edging out Iran’s Fateme Sadeghi Dastak, who finished second with 24.06.
Both advanced to the quarter-finals in the same group, with Lau remaining unbeaten and securing a spot in the final.
On the other side of the draw, Ono was also undefeated in her group, which means that the long-time rivals will meet in a final for the third time in seven months, with Lau having lost the previous two.
“Grace is in good shape and on track for another showdown with [Ono],” head coach William Thomas said. “We’re looking for a closely contested battle. Let’s wait and see what happens.”
The competition has already guaranteed Lau’s fifth podium finish at the Asian Championships. She has won two silvers and two bronzes since 2015, the most recent being bronze last year in Kazakhstan, where Ono took gold.
Hong Kong secured a first senior medal of this year’s championships on Sunday as Ho Kai-yan beat Miyuki Tacay of the Philippines 3-0 in the bronze medal match of the kumite female +68kg category.
Over the weekend, the city had won three junior kata medals, with Chiu Chun-yin taking silver in the boys’ category, and Tang Yu-hin and Tsang Pak-yin winning bronzes in the U21 men’s and cadet boys’ classes respectively.
