HK karateka Grace Lau strikes bronze in Kata event
Hong Kong karateka Grace Lau won bronze in the women's individual Kata event on Thursday at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou. Lau scored a 43.40 performing the Tomari Bassai form, nearly three points ahead of her opponent Nguyen Thi Phuong of Vietnam. Lau said she is very familiar with this form, but had never performed it in a medal match before. "I've been practicing this form a lot more lately. Though I have a lot of other routines under my belt, I wanted to choose this one because I think it would be more appealing to the audience," she said. Lau also won the bronze in this event at Jakarta in 2018. She said it wasn't her most ideal result this time around, but it was a unique experience to win the same medal again. "In 2018, I thought I would only be competing in one Asian Games. Back then, karate was not an event in the Olympics so Asian Games is the biggest stage for our sport. It was my biggest goal in 2018 to medal as a professional athlete," she told HOY TV. "Then there was Olympics so I thought I would try for two more years. Things started to postpone, two years, then another two. I had to give one more push. I couldn't believe that I was able to do it."   On the men's side, Chris Cheng missed out on the podium after a defeat from Korea's Park Heejun in the men's Kata event. Cheng scored a 41.60, just one point below his opponent.