Hong Kong China Rowing Association

The Hong Kong Rowing Team concluded a very successful campaign at the 39th All Japan Lightweight Championships in Tokyo over the weekend.

The men’s lightweight quad scull of CHIU Hin Chun, TANG Chiu Mang, Kenny LIU and LEUNG Chun Shek followed up their gold medal success at the Australian Open in March with another gold medal in the same event here in Japan. The Hong Kong crew defeated a record field of 25 boats to win in a time of 6:20.06. The Hong Kong men’s U.23 crew also won the B Final to place 5th overall in the same event.

Also showing extremely strong form was top female sculler LEE Ka Man. Returning to the single sculls event, after racing last season at the Rio Olympic Games with her younger sister in the double, Ka Man took the gold medal comfortably ahead of Japanese sculler Ohishi, who also had competed in the double sculls event in Rio. A huge field of 42 scullers raced in this boat class.

James WONG, who joined the Hong Kong Team last season from the Hong Kong University Rowing Team, also performed extremely well in his first major race in the single scull. After battling through a field of over 50 scullers and winning his heat and semi-final races outright, James finished with a highly creditable silver medal.

WONG Wai Kin and YUEN Yun Lam were also in good form and followed a similar path directly to the men’s lightweight double scull A Finals – winning both their heat and semi-final races. In the final they battled a strong headwind to finish in second place, adding another silver medal to the Hong Kong Team’s tally. Junior Scullers IP Chun Kit and WONG Wai Chun won the B final and placed 5th overall in the same event.

The women’s quad scull of LEE Yuen Yin, HIU Wing Kei, LEUNG King Wan and LOO Ka Fu placed 7th in their event, whilst the junior women’s double of CHEUNG Hoi Lam and LEUNG Wing Wun also placed 7th.

Head Coach Chris PERRY was pleased with the overall results.

“We had expected our two flagship boats – the men’s quad and LEE Ka Man in the women’s single – to be extremely competitive and they did not let us down, both taking gold in their respective events. They have worked very hard over the past months and are making excellent progress. It is very good however to see some new faces and young athletes performing well also. The U.23 quad and the junior men’s doubles both put in great performances to win the B finals in their events. We also saw silver medal winning performances from the men’s double and men’s single. The women’s quad and junior women’s doubles are new crew combinations and show potential for further development towards the Asian Games in 2018”.

The top senior crews will now head off to Europe in a weeks time to compete in the World Cup and other international events.

The Hong Kong, China Rowing Association congratulates again to the successful achievements of our rowers and the coaching team!

Issued by: Hong Kong, China Rowing Association

Date: 28 May 2017