Chung soars to new heights and seals Hangzhou spot

Phoebe Chung Wai-yan soared to silver in the high jump at the Taiwan Open yesterday, clearing a personal best height of 1.84 metres in a performance that should seal her place in Hong Kong’s squad for the Asian Games in September.

Both Chung and Lee Ching-Ching, the Taiwan record holder at 1.90 metres, cleared the same height in New Taipei City, but Lee won the gold after counting back the number of failures.

Chung’s finish was the second best by a Hong Kong athlete since Cecilia Yeung Man-wai cleared 1.88m six years ago, and the 24-year-old said she would now focus on making it a regular achievement.

“I have been trying to reach this height since the indoor Asian Championships [in February] and to now have finally made it is such an encouraging result,” she said.

“The next target will be to keep this 1.84m result as the basic standard for major events.”

Chung came close to doing even better, just missing out on clearing 1.87m with her second attempt, and Simon Yeung Sai-mo, senior vice-chairman of the Hong Kong athletics association, said she had done “an exceptional job today and showed she is in tremendous form”.

With Lai Yan-hei’s 1.85m result at an invitational event in the United States early this year yet to be ratified, Chung is now the front runner for the Asian Games squad to go to Hangzhou.

Another Hong Kong athlete in Taiwan, Priscilla Cheung Chinglaam, finished ninth with a result of 1.72 metres. Both Chung and Cheung will travel to the mainland next month for the All China Championships, but with Chung’s latest result, it will be difficult for her rival to close the gap.

In the men’s long jump, Lin Mingfu, who set a personal best leap of 7.83m at last month’s Hong Kong Championships, only managed 7.61m and finished fifth.

While three Hong Kong athletes reached the final eight, with Lin finishing highest among them, he is still trailing Ko Ho-long, who won the Hong Kong Championships in 8.01m, and Chan Ming-tai’s 8.00m recorded in Portugal last summer.

Ko put in a disappointing performance in Taiwan, managing a best jump of 7.27m finish last in the final.

Lin will represent Hong Kong at the junior Asian Championships in Thailand next month in hope of qualifying for the Asian Games.