Asian Games 2023: beating South Korea to bronze medal could prolong Hong Kong cyclist’s career
- Pursuit quartet’s breakthrough medal, won by stunning the Koreans, ‘had been our goal years in the making’
- ‘This medal is a strong testimonial to us,’ Chloe Leung says – while sister Boey wants to stay on after seeing improvement
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Hong Kong cyclists Boey Leung Bo-yee and Chloe Leung Wing-yee cited hope and determination as the drivers that pushed them to a place on the Asian Games podium in last week’s women’s 4km team pursuit.
Together with Yang Qianyu and Ceci Lee Sze-wing, the Leungs stunned South Korea at the Chun’an Jieshou Sports Centre Velodrome last Wednesday to bring home bronze in four minutes, 28.888 seconds – almost 1.6 seconds quicker than the old city record.
“Any hope of a Games medal appeared to be drifting away,” Boey Leung said – but then they found “hope” in the South Koreans’ “not-so-fast time” at the Asian Championships in June.
Meanwhile the Hongkongers – who in the China Track Cycling League in March had broken a city best that had stood for eight years – clocked an unofficial time of 4:28.00 during training ahead of Hangzhou.
Chloe Leung said it was the “power of a shared goal” that pushed them forward.
“From our respective individual medals at the Jakarta Games and the 2020 Asian Championships, taking the podium together had been our goals years in the making,” the 26-year-old said.
“This medal is a strong testimonial to us charging towards the same goal, both as sisters and [with our teammates].”
Her confidence in the velodrome had been boosted by her first major track medal, she said.
“I am more developed on the road and tend to feel stressed in the velodrome,” the 2018 individual time trial bronze medallist said. “My sister always said I have the ability, so maybe it’s time for me to try more on the track.”
Boey Leung said that, at 29, the unexpected medal could be a catalyst to prolonging her career by at least a year, having previously considered retiring after the UCI Nations Cup next March.
“It’s not like I don’t love this sport any more,” she said. “There are new ideas, and perhaps I will stay until the National Games in 2025.”
The elder sister said she was not yet thinking about the next Asian Games in Nagoya three years from now, but was not ready to turn her back on the team after seeing “improvements” up close.
“It’s also about how I value myself in the team,” she said. “I was only making up the numbers in Incheon back in 2014.
“My role and responsibilities have changed since then. I want to stay on, because I like the team pursuit, and the feelings of fighting with my sister [and teammates].”
The likes of Yang and Peng Yao are expected to unsaddle after the Games, but Leung Snr said she was reluctant to ride away just yet.
“We’ve just started to achieve something, so, I do not want our team to lose riders immediately after our maiden medal,” she said. “We may not have direct replacements yet, but Guardiola Cheung Li-tong and Tam Cheuk-kiu are incoming, and they are willing to learn.
“I want to give it a go and try once more to see if we can get to a higher place.”
