Hong Kong Cycling Team Faces Olympic Qualification Crisis: Coach and Athletes Looking to Rebound

[Naidheachdan Spòrs is Rathaid]After the all-around cycling scoring competition was completed, the Olympic seats of each country and region were also settled. According to calculations, the Hong Kong team will get only one seat in the overall women’s road cycling championship this year, a significant decrease of five seats compared to last year. New head coach Da Haifei admitted he was not satisfied with the results and revealed that the recruitment of short-term coaches had been completed. Competing for the Olympics as a top player for the first time, Yang Chuyao was only three short of qualifying for the Keirin tournament. Push capabilities to another level.

At the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, the Hong Kong Cycling team won a total of six sets in the women’s competition, Madison, two keirin events and the sprint event in the field events. However, after ” “Female Racing Goddess” Li Huishi retired, the Hong Kong team won only one ticket in the surrounding event this year, and failed to qualify for the Olympics in the short category of the keirin events and sprint in third place.18bit and20situation, there is no chance to enter the Olympics through individual ranking.

Da Haifei

(Photo: Body Road Database)

Da Haifei, who succeeded Shen Jinkang as the head coach of the cycling team, said that he only started to take the position at the beginning of the year and it is difficult to comment on the performance of the points period that started so early to 2022. However, he admitted that as a coach who loves to compete, he cannot say that he had only one seat as “Satisfied”: “Of course I hope that more athletes will qualify We have also exceeded it now, so we have to work harder. We have to do a lot of work to make the next two Olympics as possible.”

Although the short division in the “post-Lee Wai Sze era” ended with zero results, Da Haifei emphasized that the role of the short-distance riders in the team was similar to that of Lee Wai Sze’s training partner in the era riders from other countries who focused on competition training left earlier, Hong Kong riders have less experience: “In the future, we will start looking for new blood and attract new people to go into the short team. The appointment of a short-team coach is in its final stages. If successful, it will be a big step forward.”

Yang Chuyao (center)

(Photo: Body Road Database)

Short team members: Yang Chuyao, Tong Sen, Wu Siying, Cheng Yanshan (from left) (Photo: Tilu Database)

After the retirement of Li Huishi, the leadership responsibility of the women’s short team has now fallen to Yang Chuyao. Yang Chuyao, who has experience in the National Games and the Asian Games, looked back on his journey to the Olympics in the last two years, and he expressed his disappointment: “I have been running after these two years. Everything is aimed at this goal. It seems that it is very close and already.” In front of me, but in the end I felt very empty. I have never felt this much before, but the this time I realized this was it.” Hong Kong team ranked 1 in Keirin Olympic Games.18about 10% behind Malaysia, which won last place.300She said the gap was not far behind. difference in the final rating, I will think about thinking about it.

In the previous term, Li Huishi and Li Haien were still backups, but now they have changed and want to take the flag.23For the 19-year-old, it’s a completely different experience, and it’s also a new learning and feeling: “I used to feel safe with them, but this time I see that the world is like this, and it feels. very different.

As for the incoming short-term team coach, Yang Chuyao hopes that the other party will understand the needs of the drivers just like the former coach who was on the job for a short time last year, adding a sense of peace of mind with the Hong Kong players: “He (the former coach) can give me a lot of confidence. That spark started since I hadn’t tried it yet, so I was disappointed when it went away. I hope the new coach can have a spark and go to a higher level.”

Photos and text: Mai Jingzhi

This article was written by “Sports road“Originally published in”The Olympics in Paris failed｜ “After Li Huishi era” in the short group of the Olympic Games, Yang Chu’s new understanding of raising the flag」