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Lars Hamer

Hong Kong badminton player Lee Cheuk-yiu is aiming to deliver Olympic gold for his hometown when he heads off to the Paris Games next month.
The 27-year-old will be the city’s lone hope in the men’s singles competition, with no Angus Ng Ka-long alongside him after Ng fell short of qualifying for what would have been his third Olympics.
Lee will also need to go beyond anything he has managed so far this year, when his only result of note has been losing in the final at the Yonex Sunrise India Open.
That final in New Delhi in January saw him come off second-best to world No 1 Shi Yuqi of China after beating Japan’s world No 6 Kodai Naraoka in the semi-final. It was the only time in 2024 Lee has gone further than the round of 16 in any tournament, but that has not deterred him from aiming high.
“My target is a gold medal,” Lee said. “I will do my best. Shot by shot, not point by point. It’s every shot to reach the target of the gold medal.”

Hong Kong’s highest-ranked men’s player at world No 17, six places above Ng, he does not lack ambition or confidence as he approaches his first Olympics. But despite having the word “family” tattooed on his neck, Lee said his desire to win was not something he picked up at home.
“I think my family does not really care about me going to the Olympics,” he said. “They just said, ‘It’s OK, it’s normal, just do well, just relax, try your best.’”
Lee is at least on board with the “just relax” aspect as he readies for France.
“My mental preparation is more important than my physical,” he said. “If my mentality is not good, it will affect the physical part.
“Before I go to Paris, I will spend more time in Hong Kong relaxing and chilling out.”
Another athlete concentrating on the mental side was swimmer Cindy Cheung Sum-yuet.
Cheung has been Paris-bound for a long time already. She recorded the qualifying time in the 200 metres backstroke fully 14 months ago, doing so aged only 16 at the city’s Long Course Time Trial at Hong Kong Sports Institute.
“I think both mental and physical preparation are really important,” Cheung, now 17, said. “But I think for a big race like this, the mentality is especially important, because there’s going to be a lot of pressure, especially seeing all these competitors from other countries. Trying to stay as calm as possible is really hard.”
Cheung said that the experience she gained at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha in February had helped to prepare her for what to expect on the biggest stage of all.
“It definitely helped,” she said. “I got to see a lot of the world’s top swimmers, and that was eye-opening.
“I could see how other countries and my competitors were doing, so it was good mental preparation for the Olympics.”
Cheung’s Olympic qualifying time was achieved in April last year by clocking two minutes and 10.35 seconds, 0.04 seconds under the required mark. Since then, however, she has not swum under 2:12 in an Olympic-standard 50-metre pool.
Asked whether she could manage it in Paris, she replied: “I would say it depends on my preparation until the Olympics.
“I wouldn’t give myself that much pressure to do a specific time. I would just try to relax and enjoy the race.”


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Paris Olympics 2024

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City’s only men’s singles representative stresses importance of mindset, as does Paris-bound swimmer Cindy Cheung


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Paris Olympics: badminton gold to Hong Kong? That is Lee Cheuk-yiu’s unapologetic target

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}City’s only men’s singles representative stresses importance of mindset, as does Paris-bound swimmer Cindy Cheung

City’s only men’s singles representative stresses importance of mindset, as does Paris-bound swimmer Cindy Cheung