Courageous Hongkonger Chloe Leung ignores illness for Asean track cycling medals
National Games gold medallist banks silver and bronze in Malaysia, as head coach introduces teenagers to senior competition
Chloe Leung Wing-yee climbed off her sickbed to claim her second medal of the two-day Asean Track Series (President Cup 1) on Thursday.
Competing with stomach pains and a fever, resulting from a suspected bout of food poisoning, Leung led at the halfway point of the four-discipline omnium in Malaysia, before being overhauled by the mainland China pair of Chen Ning and Zhou Menghan to finish with bronze.
A Madison National Games gold medallist last November, the 29-year-old had claimed silver in Wednesday’s scratch race.
Given Leung’s preference for road competition, Herve Dagorne, the head coach, said it had “not been her first choice to be here … but she has a double project to succeed on the road, and in international fields on the track”.
Dagorne, who introduced a number of promising teenagers, including 18-year-old twins Ma Yik-fei and Ma Yik-sin to his squad in Nilai, said Leung had made “very important progress physically, technically and tactically” over the two days, when she also placed fourth in the elimination race.
Despite her 22nd place in last year’s UCI Road World Championships individual time trial, which added to a top 40 individual road race finish, Leung is not expected to challenge for honours at next month’s Asian Road Cycling Championships because of the flat nature of the Saudi Arabian course.