Cheung Ka-wai overcomes ‘huge pressure’ to win Hong Kong’s first-ever World Games gold medal
- The former World junior champion made an impressive debut at the Games, defeating British veteran player Wayne Brown on his way to gold
- Despite a fight back from his opponent in the second set, Cheung remained focused to seal the win with two sets of 69-18, 65-29
Cheung Ka-wai made history for Hong Kong on the closing day of the World Games in Alabama, bagging the city’s first-ever gold medal.
In the men’s snooker final, the 23-year-old overcame “huge pressure” to defeat Egypt’s Abdelrahman Shahin 74-15 on the biggest sporting stage outside the Olympic Games – winning the city’s fifth medal of the competition.
“I am very happy to have this gold medal in my possession,” Cheung told the Post. “To be honest, I was very nervous and under a lot of pressure not only in the final but the whole tournament. I’m so glad I made it even though I wasn’t at my best.”
Despite a fight back from Shahin to level 59-13 in the second set, Cheung remained focused to seal the gold with two sets of 69-18, 65-29.
The former World junior champion made an impressive debut at the Games, defeating British veteran player Wayne Brown 3-0 in the first round, followed by two more victories over current IBSF world champion Ahsan Ramzan of Pakistan 3-1 in the quarters and Ali Alobaidli of Qatar 3-0 in the semi-finals.
“I’ve had ups and downs since winning the world junior title in 2015. I hadn’t thought about getting a gold medal in the Games, but this gold definitely gave me a lot of confidence for my career,” said Cheung, who also won bronze at the 2021 Asian Billiards Championships.
“I believe my gold is a breakthrough for Hong Kong. It’s an accomplishment for me, and it gives hope to our sports – particularly our status in the Hong Kong Sports Institute, which has been threatened for months,” Cheung said.
