Road to Paris Olympics: alarm bells ringing for Hong Kong cyclists as official issues qualification warning
- Chairman of city’s Cycling Association highlights danger city’s team won’t qualify for the 2024 Games
- Hong Kong sent a team of six cyclists to Tokyo Olympics, but Lee Sze-wing’s 19th place in women’s omnium in Cairo was best result so far
Hong Kong’s cyclists are in danger of failing to qualify for next year’s Olympics in Paris, a leading official has said.
Leung Hung-tak, chairman of the city’s cycling association, sounded the alarm after the team failed to perform at either of the first two Nations Cup events of the year, in Jakarta and Cairo.
There is a long history of cyclists representing Hong Kong in the Olympics, with Sarah Lee Wai-sze claiming bronze on the track in the 2012 and 2020 Games and Wong Kam-po first appearing in the men’s points race in Sydney in 2000.
But less than two years after sending a team of six to Tokyo, there is a danger not one cyclist will make the Hong Kong delegation for Paris in 2024.
“It doesn’t look that promising at the moment,” Leung said. “With two rounds of the Nations Cup completed, our riders are struggling against the world’s best and have to work hard and improve in the remaining events, or we may not qualify for Paris, which will be a huge disappointment.”
The qualification process for the Summer Games is already under way, with the two best results from this year’s Nations Cup, which ends in Canada next month, the 2023 Asian Championships in June and the World Championships in August counting towards the rankings.
Qualification will end with the 2024 Asian Championships and the two best results of the three rounds of next year’s Nations Cup, with one round to be held in Hong Kong in March.
“The Asian Championships will be very important as we are competing against teams in the region which will certainly give us some better results to boost our rankings,” Leung said. “The riders are also eager to improve and hopefully they can work out a better training schedule with the coaching team to get results at the top level.”
Hong Kong’s cyclists returned to their training base in Yunnan province in mainland China last week, and are now preparing for the final Nations Cup event in Milton from April 20 to 23.
They will have an event at the Tseung Kwan O velodrome in early June before leaving for the Asian Championships in Malaysia in search of vital qualification points.
However, judging from their results last week in Cairo, they face an uphill battle to make it to Paris, especially in the absence of veteran rider Sarah Lee, who will be 36 in May.
The team’s best result in Egypt came in the women’s omnium, with Lee Sze-wing 19th out of the 24 riders while compatriot Yang Qianyu failed to make it out of the heats.
Lee Sze-wing is the best hope for Hong Kong to compete at the Paris Games, with the 21-year-old ranking 15th in the Nations Cup standings.
The women’s Madison team of Yang and Leung Bo-yee, who qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, finished last in their heats in Cairo and did not reach the main round.
In the women’s sprint, Yeung Cho-yiu finished 31st in the qualifiers and was also eliminated after the first round repechage in the keirin.
The men’s results were also disappointing. Leung Chun-wing and Leung Ka-yu reached the Madison final, but came last out of the 16 teams as they did not finish the 50km race, while Leung Ka-yu was eliminated in the omnium after the heats.
To Cheuk-hei finished 46th in the heats of sprint and did not reach the first round. He was also eliminated in the keirin after the first round repechage.
