Asian Games: Hong Kong athletes have final chance to make Hangzhou squad at China selection meet
- City’s athletes will have an opportunity test themselves against the best on the mainland at event in Shenyang
- But country’s top sprinter Su Bingtian will not be involved after opting to sit out for the rest of the year
The race to make Hong Kong’s squad for the Asian Games enters its final stretch next week, and for some the gap between going to Hangzhou and not is just three hundredths of a second.
With only the top two competitors in a sport expected to make the final cut, the city’s hopefuls will head to the Shenyang Olympic Centre for a three-day meet designed to finalise China’s squad for September and the World Championships in August.
And while Hong Kong’s athletes are unlikely to be winning any events at the trial, Simon Yeung Sai-mo, senior vice-chairman of the Association of Athletics Affiliates, said he hoped the “high standard of competition” would push those still trying to stake a claim.
“This will possibly be the last chance for those who are not in the top two positions for the Games,” he said. “We have to submit the final list soon.”
Among those trying to make the squad is hurdler Cheung Wang-fung, whose season best time of 13.91 seconds in the men’s 110m is short of that posted by Lee Ka-yiu, who ran a 13.88 at the Hong Kong Championships in April.
Cheung though set his time last month at the Taiwan Open last month, when the city’s top hurdler, Mui Chung-yeung, finished his heat in 13.77.
