Asian Para Games: swimmer Chan Yui-lam smashes record twice en route to gold for Hong Kong
- The city takes its medal tally to 30 after day four, led by Paralympian Chan, who collects her second gold in the 100 metres butterfly S14
- In badminton, Chu Man-kai ousts compatriot Wong Chun-yim to reach men’s singles gold-medal match, but they team up to win through to doubles final
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Hong Kong’s athletes have continued to shine at the Asian Para Games, reaching 30 medals in total after the fourth full day of competition in Hangzhou.
The city had accumulated five golds, nine silvers and 16 bronzes as of Thursday – ranking 11th in the medals table – and leading the charge was Paralympic swimmer Chan Yui-lam, who topped the podium for a second time in three days.
Chan smashed the Games record twice in the women’s 100 metres butterfly S14 at the Hangzhou Sports Centres Aquatics Arena, continuing the form that had already brought her 100m backstroke gold and 100m breaststroke silver.
The 20-year-old broke the mark in qualifying fastest from the morning heats before improving it by a further 1.54 seconds in the evening’s final with her winning time of one minute, 4.73 seconds.
Japanese duo Aira Kinoshita and Mami Inoue took silver and bronze respectively, while Hongkonger Cheung Ho-ying finished fifth.
In athletics, runner Yam Kwok-fan had something to show for her Games after earning bronze in women’s 100 metres T36.
Yam, 26, had taken bronze in the 200m T36 in Jakarta in 2018, but was disqualified from that event on Monday for stepping on to the inner line at Huanglong Sports Centre Stadium.
A personal best of 15.47 seconds gave her the final spot on the podium behind Shi Yiting of China and Jeon Minjae of South Korea. Her teammate Yu Chun-lai, whose city record she also broke, came fifth.
Elsewhere, badminton player Chu Man-kai was also on course for two golds after reaching the finals of both the men’s singles and doubles SH6.
The 33-year-old moved to within one win of defending his singles title by dispatching teammate Wong Chun-yim in straight games at the Binjiang Gymnasium, in a repeat of the semi-final in Indonesia five years ago.
World champion and world No 1 Chu will face Krishna Nagar of India in the final.
Wong had to make do with bronze, but the two Hongkongers were on the same side of the net in the doubles, where they reached the gold medal match by beating Nagar and Sivarajan Solaimalai in straight games.
They will face China pair Lin Niali and Zeng Qingtao.
