Asian Games 2023: high-jumper Cecilia Yeung eyes late bid for selection after ACL injury
- The Hong Kong record-holder has been sidelined for a year since injuring anterior cruciate ligament
- She hopes to make her comeback in June, when the city’s best will gather for a training camp – so will need to prove herself quickly to join them
High-jumper Cecilia Yeung Man-wai hopes to return to competing in June after a year recovering from a knee ligament injury – and has an eye on making it to September’s Asian Games.
But after a long break for treatment, the 28-year-old is back in training alongside teammates at the Hong Kong Sports Institute campus in Fo Tan.
“I have rejoined my teammates for training over the past two weeks, mainly doing exercises to improve my speed and explosive power,” she said. “I’m still having physiotherapy.
“My plan is to start high-jump training in April, and hopefully I can get back to competitions within the next two months after that.”
Yeung last represented Hong Kong at the 2021 National Games of China, finishing only 15th after clearing 1.75 metres. Her best – and the Hong Kong record – remains the 1.88m she jumped in Taiwan in the 2017 Asia Grand Prix.
She finished fifth with 1.8m at the last Asian Games, in Jakarta in 2018, and Yeung wants to give the Games another shot in Hangzhou in September, even if it is a race against time.
“I know time is running very short for the Asian Games, even if I can resume competition in June as planned,” she said. “But the Games is the biggest multi-sport competition we have in this region, and I am still targeting it. Let’s see.”
A training and competition camp is planned for the city’s athletes in Japan in June, and the criterion Yeung must meet to be there is clear, said Simon Yeung Sai-mo, senior vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Athletics Affiliates (HKAAA).
“We will pick the best two athletes from results within a year period to represent Hong Kong at the Asian Games,” he said. “Yeung must prove she is one of them, or she cannot go to Hangzhou. But we do appreciate her determination to fight. It’s not easy for an athlete to get back to competition after such a serious injury.”
National sports associations will submit their initial lists of athletes for Hangzhou by April, for the city’s Olympic committee to approve. But alterations can be made before the Games organisers’ deadline, expected to be in July.
Phoebe Chung Wai-yan, who cleared 1.8m when finishing fourth at the Asian Indoor Championships in Kazakhstan in February, is a favourite to make the team.
Another candidate could be Toby Lai Yan-hei, a University of California, Berkeley student. She reportedly cleared 1.85m in an indoor meet in New Mexico last month, but the HKAAA has yet to receive confirmation.
