Sarah Lee Wai-sze is set to beat Ng On-yee to the title of best Hong Kong athlete at this year’s Hong Kong sports “Oscars”.
The two female athletes have dominated the scene over the last six years and it will be another battle between the two for 2018 when the Cathay Pacific Sports Stars Awards presentation takes place at the Exhibition and Convention Centre in Wan Chai on Tuesday.
Eight of the year’s best sports stars will be selected from a list of 36 candidates, each nominated by their respective national sports association. The winner will be decided by a vote through a public ballot (20 per cent), the sports media (20 per cent) and a judging panel (60 per cent).
But it’s not too difficult to guess who will come out on top. The Jakarta Asian Games was the major competition for most Hong Kong athletes in 2018 though athletes’ results at their respective world championships will also be taken into consideration.
Ng successfully defended her world title in Malta last year and before that, she made another important achievement by climbing to the pinnacle of the world rankings in early 2018, overtaking Reanne Evans of England for the women’s No 1 spot.
Snooker is not a programme at the Asian Games anymore and therefore Ng had no chance of proving her skills among her fellow Hong Kong athletes in Jakarta.
That should give the advantage to cyclist Lee. The world class track rider made no mistake in her two sprinting events at the 2018 Indonesia Games as Lee clinched gold in the women’s sprint and keirin, repeating her achievements from the Incheon Asian Games four years ago.
In the team sprint, she partnered Ma Wing-yu and Li Yin-yin for a silver medal. Lee also clinched a silver medal in the keirin at the worlds in Apeldoorn and at the year-end World Cup series in Paris and Milton, Canada, she won sprint gold against a strong field of world class sprinters.
It should be enough to see Lee crowned the best athlete of 2018 for what would be a record fifth time since she first took it in 2012 after capturing a bronze medal at the London Olympic Games.
Snooker star Ng probably wouldn’t have any complaints as Lee has been in superb form since she decided to continue her career in early 2018.
Results in Jakarta, followed by the World Cup series of the 2018-19 season and the 2019 World Championships in Poland all proved Lee is a world-class athlete in a highly competitive Olympic sport. Indeed, her sprint and kierin double at the worlds this year has virtually guaranteed Lee to win the same title for 2019.
Hong Kong’s other 2018 Asian Games gold medallists will be favourites for the top eight, such as Jacqueline Siu Wing-ying of equestrian, Shek Wai-hung of gymnastics and Leo Au Chun-ming of squash, while Juanita Mok Uen-ying of wushu and Vivian Kong Man-wai of fencing may also contend the award, plus the two Paralympic athletes, wheelchair fencer Yu Chui-yee and table tennis player Ng Mui-wui.
The Hong Kong men’s rugby sevens team, who surprisingly defeated Asian No 1 Japan in the 2018 Asian Games final, will be favourites to win the team sport award.
Track cyclists Leung Chun-wing and Cheung King-lok, who won the men’s madison gold medal at the Jakarta Games, are strongly tipped to take one of the two team event titles, along with the women’s squash team, the Asian Games gold medallists, and the badminton mixed doubles pair Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet, silver medallists at the Asian Games and bronze medallists at the 2018 World Championships.
2018 major achievements of Sarah Lee and Ng On-yee
Sarah Lee, cycling
Age: 31
Gold medals: women’s sprint and keirin, Jakarta Asian Games
Silver medal: women’s keirin, track World Championships
Gold medals: women’s sprint, World Cup Series (Paris and Milton, Canada)
Hong Kong athlete of the year: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016
Ng On-yee, snooker
Age: 28
Champion: WLBS World Championships
Champion: UK Women’s Snooker Championship
Champion: Australian Women’s Open
Hong Kong athlete of the year: 2015, 2017
