Sarah Lee left out of track cycling Nations Cup, as prospect of retirement comes into focus again
- Cycling star Sarah Lee misses Jakarta leg, despite the event providing valuable points for Olympics and World Championships
- Lee Sze-wing, 21, hopes to kick off the Olympic cycle on a high note in her ‘lucky place’ in Indonesia
The prospect of track cycling star Sarah Lee Wai-sze retiring has come into focus again after she was left off Hong Kong’s team list for the first leg of the Nations Cup in Jakarta, which begins on Thursday.
The event offers qualification points for the UCI Track World Championships and the Paris Olympics, with Hong Kong sending only a small team to Indonesia – three men and three women – including omnium riders Leung Chun-wing and Lee Sze-wing.
Hong Kong’s cycling chief also revealed Olympic bronze medallist Lee is not on the list for the second leg of the Nations Cup in Cairo next month, casting serious doubt on her future plans.
“The first two legs of this year’s Nations Cup have been finalised, and Sarah is not on the list,” Leung Hung-tak, chairman of the Cycling Association of Hong Kong, said.
“To be honest, we haven’t heard from Sarah in a while, but we’ll have a clearer picture next month when we need to hand in our list of names for the Asian Games in Hangzhou [in September].”
Lee, 35, told the media after receiving the Sports Stars Award for Women last summer that she has no plans to retire and that the Asian Games in China are her ultimate goal, with the Paris Olympics still on the table if she can qualify.
Having decided to focus on her degree at Baptist University after the Tokyo Olympics and National Games in 2021, Lee has only since competed in Cali’s Nations Cup last July, finishing fourth in the keirin and exiting early in the last 16 of the sprint.
“Of course, we hope Sarah will continue to compete for Hong Kong. Our young cyclists can greatly benefit from training and competing with her. Let us await her decision,” Leung added.
With veteran Sarah Lee absent, Lee Sze-wing is the one to watch, with her main event – the omnium – up on Sunday, and the women’s Madison – where she will partner with Yang Qianyu – the day before.
Lee had a memorable experience at the Jakarta International Velodrome in 2019, where she won two gold medals and one silver medal in the Asian Junior Championships.
“My form is quite good, and I’m confident I can get through the qualifying round and have a good fight in the final [of the omnium],” said the 21-year-old, who trained for nearly two months in Kunming before flying to Jakarta on Monday.
“This is our first time competing right after high altitude, so I’m excited to see how we do.”
Leung has a busy weekend ahead of him, too, beginning with the men’s elimination qualifying round on Friday, followed by the omnium on Saturday, and the Madison with Mow Ching-yin on Sunday.
The 22-year-old Yeung Cho-yiu will compete in the women’s sprint on Saturday and the keirin on Sunday, while To Cheuk-hei will participate in the same events for the men.
Over 370 riders from around the world registered for the Nations Cup this weekend, with the second leg set for mid-March in Egypt, and the final leg in Milton, Canada in April.
