Hong Kong windsurfers in stunning comeback for best medal tally yet
Pair finish second in their respective classes as Hongkongers win two gold, two silver and a bronze
Windsurfing bagged their best results yet in an Asian Games after Andy Leung Ho-tsun surged back to win silver on the final day of competition at Wangsan Marina Centre yesterday.
Leung was third before yesterday's last two men's RS:X races, but a win and a third-place finish in race 11 and 12, respectively, earned him a silver medal in his Asian Games debut. Coupled with the silver won by Sonia Lo Sin-lam in the women's RS:One, Hong Kong windsurfers won two gold and two silver.
Cheng Kwok-fai and Hayley Chan Hei-man were confirmed winners in their respective men's mistral and women's RS:X events before the last two races.
I could not afford to make any mistakes or my medal hopes would have evaporated
Hong Kong won one gold and two silver medals at the 2006 and 2010 Games.
"I am very happy with my performance on the final day, wrapping up not only a successful Games personally, but also a marvellous run for the entire windsurfing team," said Leung, who also represented Hong Kong at the 2012 London Olympics.
"I faced a tough task after a disqualification on the opening day. With only one discard in 12 races, I could not afford to make any mistakes or my medal hopes would have evaporated.
"In the end, I was able to claw back into contention one race at a time and finish with a great comeback. This is my first Asian Games and getting a silver medal is an achievement already," said Leung, who turns 24 next month.
Leung finished with 30 penalty points, beating Ek Boonsawad, of Thailand, by one. Wang Aichen, of China, who came 17th in the world championships in Spain 10 days ago, won by a big margin of 17.
In the women's RS:One, Lo was unable to turn the tables on Weng Qiaoshan, of China.
Before the last two races, Lo trailed by one point, but Weng extended the gap to three, winning gold.
"This is my first Asian Games and a silver medal is not a bad result," said the 22-year-old Lo.
In the Hobie-16 - Open Multihull, Tong Yui-shing became the oldest medal winner for Hong Kong at the Asian Games when the 55-year-old sailor and partner Tong Kit-fong won bronze.
In tenpin bowling, the Hong Kong men's team won a bronze medal.
