Altogether, Hong Kong returned with two gold and five bronze medals from Xian, paling in comparison to the much richer haul of two gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals they won at the Tianjin Games four years ago.

Nothing should be taken away from the hard-working Lee Sze-wing who only went full-time in her training after winning a gold medal at the 2019 Asian Junior Championships in Uzbekistan. It’s never easy for a young rider, who has only competed against competitors in her own age group and then attempts to tackle more experienced and more powerful rivals.

Lee Sze-win wins individual road race gold at National Games

In truth, Lee’s victory did owe a lot to the weather, as Xian’s adverse climate forced Games organisers to make a last-minute change of the course – removing routes in the mountainous regions in fear of landslides after a heavy downpour in the area, and replacing it with a flatter course. Typically a sprinter, Lee took full advantage of the change as she zoomed to the finish with a powerful dash 500 metres from the line. No other cyclist was able to catch her.

Without Lee’s road race gold, Hong Kong might have managed only one gold and five bronze medals among a 169-athlete squad. It shouldn’t be considered a poor result, but it would represent a disappointment in light of what was achieved at the Tokyo Games – on the world’s biggest sporting stage, and the 16 medals Hong Kong won at the last National Games in 2017.

Of the five bronze medals won, two came from fencing, two from cycling and one from karate. The fencing team might have fared better if Olympic gold medallist Edgar Cheung Ka-long had not been forced to withdraw injured after damaging his knee during training just one day before the competition began. The Olympic foil champion pulled out of the event, leaving his three teammates, Ryan Choi Chun-yin, Cheung Siu-lun and Yeung Chi-ka to tackle both the individual and team events. In the end, they managed to snag a creditable team bronze with Choi reaching the quarter-finals in the individual event.

Covid-19 toughest opponent for Hong Kong at China National Games

Another fencing bronze came from Vivian Kong Man-wai in the women’s individual épée.

There were high hopes for the 27-year-old at the Olympic Games until she was unceremoniously dumped out by unheralded Russian youngster Aizanat Murtazaeva in the quarter-finals. But Kong made amends at the National Games.

Both the men’s foil team and women’s épée team left for China directly after their Olympic assignment in order to maximise time for their preparation, and followed strict 21-day quarantine requirements handed down by the Chinese authorities. Kong made it all the way to the individual semi-finals before losing to Lin Sheng of Fujian, who was also a China national team member at the Tokyo Olympics. In the bronze medal play-off, Kong upset the reigning Olympic champion Sun Yiwen in a thrilling 15-14 win.

In cycling, the men’s team won one gold and two silver medals four years ago in Tianjin but this time around only Leung Ka-yu captured a bronze medal. The other bronze came from Sarah Lee in the keirin.

Cycling chief Leung Hung-tak was deeply concerned over the departure of two key men’s riders – Cheung King-lok and Fung Ka-hoo, just six months before the Games, with the duo at loggerheads with coaches over their training programmes. Cheung won a silver in the time trial four years ago and was also a bronze medallist in the same event at the 2013 Games in Shenyang. He combined with Leung Chun-wing to claim the World Cup series title in the madison. His decision to quit had a big impact on the men’s team.

The lengthy quarantine period required for the Hong Kong athletes and officials could also offer an explanation for the disappointing results in Shaanxi.

Some trainers insisted it would be impossible for their athletes to regain the requisite strength in their muscles in such a short period of time after the long isolation and before the Games began, and said sending a team to the National Games would be pointless for Hong Kong athletes.

There was no swimming team from Hong Kong in Xian, and none of the badminton players who took part in the Tokyo Olympics featured either. Table tennis only sent a squad of young players to the National Games with the top paddlers opting instead to play in Doha on the WTT series and the Asian Championships. Golf only sent one men’s and one women’s player to the Games as they were already based in China and wouldn’t be required to quarantine.

Equestrian, which has delivered a medal for Hong Kong at every National Games since 2009, including a silver and a bronze in Tianjin, only had one show jumper, Kenneth Cheng Man-kit, in Xian with no coaching or technical support staff in tow. Still, Cheng performed excellently against the odds and was ultimately just a single penalty point from winning a medal in the individual final. But the Games marked the first time Hong Kong has returned with no equestrian medal.

Four years from now, Hong Kong will co-host the 15th National Games, joining hands with Guangdong province and Macau. Are we prepared for it? The 2025 Games will arrive one year after the Paris Olympics and with most of the National Games programmes to be the same as the Olympics, it should give Hong Kong sports officials pause for thought.