Hong Kong’s strongest karate squad in years can win 5 Asian Games medals, coach roars
- Head coach William Thomas says winning four or five medals in Hangzhou would be a ‘dream performance’ – but is not too far-fetched an idea
- Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Grace Lau Mo-sheung will lead city’s charge along with fellow Asian Championships gold medallist Tsang Yee-ting
Head coach William Thomas insisted the karate squad heading to the Asian Games will be the strongest since his arrival in Hong Kong in 2017 – and can win multiple medals, with kata specialist Grace Lau Mo-sheung a testament to that claim.
Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Lau, who has been training in Florida since the build-up to the 2020 Olympics, won gold at July’s Asian Championships when she beat rival Kiyou Shimizu of Japan in the final in Malacca, Malaysia.
The 31-year-old Lau is likely to meet Shimizu again at the Asiad in Hangzhou, which gets under way next month, as Japan’s world No 1 Hikaru Ono has been dropped from the team.
“[Lau is] the first person to beat a Japanese competitor in the female category in maybe 10 years,” Thomas said.
“But she knows there will be another challenge in Hangzhou. She has the self-belief and has a really strong training attitude. We’re confident we can go out and compete and beat both Shimizu and Ono.
“If we come back with two medals from Hangzhou, I would say that would be expected. If we come back with three, I wouldn’t be surprised as this matches our level and our expectation. And if we come back with four or five, well, that’s a dream performance.”
Hong Kong has other big medal hopes in Tsang Yee-ting and her husband Cheng Tsz-man, who will look to end their careers on a high as they enter their final Asian Games campaign together.
Buoyed by her recent success at the Asian Championships where she also won a gold medal in the women’s kumite under-50kg, Tsang will head to her third Games full of confidence.
Cheng, who will be 35 next month, will be making a fourth Games appearance in the men’s individual and team kata in Hangzhou.
“We think it will be the right time to sit down and reconsider our sporting future after the World Championships which will be three weeks following Hangzhou,” Tsang, 31, said.
“The Asian Championships was a great success, not only beating a strong contender in the final but also working out our game plan accordingly.
“It will probably be a similar field of athletes at the Asian Games but I have already put the success in Malacca behind me and consider Hangzhou another new event so that I can go out again and enjoy it.”
Neither Cheng – who lost in the bronze medal match at the 2014 Incheon Games – nor Tsang have won a medal at the Asian Games, where Hong Kong’s best results are silver medals from Lee Ka-wai in Incheon in 2014 and Chan Ka-man in Busan in 2002.
