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Asian Games 2018
SportHong Kong

Asian Games 2018: Sarah Lee set to shine the brightest as Hong Kong draws on 64 years of Asiad history

The star cyclist is level with Marco Fu and Wong Kam-po with three gold medals and is poised to take pride of place in the record books

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Hong Kong athletes march into the stadium for the opening ceremony of the 1966 Asian Games in Bangkok. Photo: UPI
Chan Kin-wa

When the Hong Kong delegation marches into the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta at the opening ceremony on Saturday, they will be following in the footsteps of more than half a century of athletes form the territory.

On its third visit to the Asian Games in 1962, the first time Indonesia hosted the event, Hong Kong sent a delegation of just 54 athletes. That number has increased tenfold for this edition, with Hong Kong’s 2018 team consisting of 586 athletes.

Located in central Jakarta, the Gelora Bung Karno stadium will be hosting its second Games opening, although the seating capacity has been reduced from 110,000 in 1962 to the existing 76,000 after a major facelift for the 2018 Games.

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The Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. Photo: AFP
The Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. Photo: AFP

Despite a small squad, Hong Kong still returned with medals from Jakarta in 1962. In table tennis, the women’s team of Baguio Wong, Fan Sin-kwan and Chan Yee-ching captured a silver medal, while tennis player Tsui Yuen-yuen contributed half of another silver medal as she partnered with Ceylon player Ranjani Jayasuriya to come second in the women’s doubles.

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Hong Kong missed the inaugural Asian Games when it was held in New Delhi, India in 1951, a regional games held after the second world war to promote cultural exchanges and raise the level of Asian sports to a world standard.

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