Karate 1 Premier League: Grace Lau denied by nemesis Hikaru Ono, but World Games offers chance for revenge

World No 2 beats Lau in final in Morocco, frustrating the Hongkonger for their third meeting in a row

Their next encounter could take place at July’s World Games, which are even more important for Lau after the Asian Games’ postponement

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Grace Lau enters the arena for the final in Rabat, in which she won the silver medal. Photo: WKF

Published: 3:46pm, 16 May 2022Updated: 4:01pm, 16 May 2022

Hong Kong’s Grace Lau Mo-sheung reached the final of the Rabat WKF Karate 1 Premier League on Sunday night, having to settle for silver after Hikaru Ono beat her for a third successive time.

But Lau is keen to end that sequence when she next meets the world No 2 from Japan, which could come at the World Games in the United States in July.

Silver in Morocco gave world No 4 Lau a podium finish in her ninth competition in a row – a run that stretches all the way back to February 2020 and has included the Olympics and world and Asian championships.

She has not reached the top step, however, and will look to finally exact revenge on Ono as she targets gold in Birmingham, Alabama.

Grace Lau picked up her second silver medal in three weeks. Photo: World Karate Federation

Ono had already beaten her in the group stage of the Asian Championships in December and the Premier League semi-finals in Fujairah in February.

And she did it again in the Rabat final, as Lau performed the Unshu, scoring 25.74, only for Ono to take the gold with Suparinpei, scoring 26.6.