Hong Kong gymnast Shek Wai-hung finished sixth in the final of the Baku leg of the World Cup series on Sunday, and not only secured a spot at the World Championships but also found the confidence to perform his signature vault at the upcoming Asian Championships. The 30-year-old scored 14.033 in the final with two downgraded routines (5.2 and 4.8) on his return to competition after needing a month to recover from a Covid-19 infection. Even now, Shek said he was only 50 to 60 per cent fit, but had to compete because it was the only way to qualify for the World Championships in the UK in October. “To be honest, I am not fit enough to compete at such a high level, but considering the World Championships’ ticket, I need to perform in the final,” Shek said that he was only operating at “50, 60 per cent” on the final day. “I found that it is tough to recover in such a short time, but today’s performance is OK, and the routines are simple for me.” said Shek, who qualified in eighth place for the final with a score of 14.133. Hong Kong gymnast Shek makes Baku final, despite still recovering from Covid Nazar Chepurnyi from Ukraine took gold in Baku, with a score of 15.016, with Israel’s Andrey Medvedev (14.500) and Artem Dolgopyat (14.450) finishing second and third respectively. With several weeks before the Asian Championships in Doha, Shek hopes to get fit enough to perform his signature “Ri-Se-gwang” in Qatar, while building up for the Asian Games in September. Sergiy Agafontsev, the Hong Kong men’s coach, said given the build up to the Baku competition, and Shek’s illness, he was “satisfied” with the outcome. The men’s team will head to Poland for a two-month training camp before the Asian Championships, which take place from June 15 to 18.