Asian Rowing Championships: Chiu provides golden end to competition for Hong Kong, as city’s team finishes third overall

Chiu Hin-chun bagged another gold at the Asian Rowing Championships in Thailand on Sunday, propelling Hong Kong into third in the medal table.

The city champion’s triumph in the lightweight single sculls was the team’s sixth medal of the week.

Chiu led from start to finish in rough conditions, crossing the line in 7 minutes and 44.910 seconds, ahead of Iraq’s Mohammed Al-Khafaji in 7:47.755 and Iran’s Mahmoodpour Shahrestani Amirhossein, who won bronze in the single sculls on Saturday, in 7:51.173.

“This year has been like a roller coaster for me,” the 28-year-old Chiu said. “After the disappointing result in the World Championships in September, my confidence was completely destroyed.”

Chiu, who won a silver medal in the same event at the 2018 Asian Games but was 25th in the lightweight men’s doubles at the World Championships this year, said his rivals at the regional championships would be his main challengers at next year’s Asian Games.

“The standard is higher than expected, and I’m happy to win a gold medal to boost my confidence,” Chiu said. “I found that not only China, but other Asian countries raised their bar in the last two years.”