Asian Games 2023: Hong Kong rugby’s emotional roller-coaster ends at golden stop, as men and women make history
- Men retain gold medals as Cado Lee and Liam Doherty score tries in scrappy 14-7 win over South Korea
- Chong Ka-yan bags seventh score of the tournament as women secure historic bronze on day for triumphs for city’s teams
Hong Kong’s men retained their Asian Games rugby sevens title in Hangzhou on Tuesday, riding a roller-coaster of emotions all the way back to the top of the podium.
A 14-7 win over South Korea put a golden exclamation point on a moment head coach Paul John said was “five years in the making”, when planning began to deal with Japan’s determination to avenge their loss at the Jakarta Games.
This time, though, the two sides met in a pulsating semi-final that needed a moment of magic from Max Denmark in extra time to settle it in Hong Kong’s favour, but the nervous energy expended meant coach Jevon Groves’ reaction to winning gold was “relief more than anything”.
Elation was more the emotion for women’s co-captain Natasha Olson-Thorne after Chong Ka-yan’s seventh try of the tournament helped her side beat Thailand 7-5 in another nail-biter to win bronze, the first Asian Games medal of any colour for the women’s team.
Olson-Thorne played in 2018, too, when Hong Kong missed out, and the disappointment of then fuelled the charge this time around. “So happy, elation, no words, I can’t explain it,” she said.
There was a lot of that going around on Tuesday. Immediately after beating Japan, all Denmark had left to express how it felt to reach the final was “that’s great”.