Hong Kong high jump ‘Beauty’ Cecilia Yeung narrowly misses out on a bronze at National Games
The 22-year-old athlete clears the same height as the third placed athlete but settles for fifth place on a countback
High jumper Cecilia Yeung Man-wai narrowly missed out on a medal at the National Games despite clearing the same height as the bronze medallist at Tianjin Olympic Centre Stadium on Sunday night.
Yeung, who is affectionately known as Hong Kong’s athletic “beauty” because of her modelling work, cleared 1.84 metres in the final after three unsuccessful attempts at 1.87 metres. Deng Siyi of Sichuan and Wang Xueyi of Shanghai also cleared the same mark.
But Deng was awarded the bronze medal because she took fewer attempts at clearing the height, while the Hong Kong athlete finished a disappointing fifth. Wang Yang of Liaoning and Fujian’s Zheng Xingjuan both cleared 1.9 metres but Wang won the gold medal, also on a countback.
Yeung also cleared 1.84 metres at the World University Games last month when she finished eighth in Taiwan. The result, however, failed to match her Hong Kong record of 1.88 metres set at the Asia Grand Prix series in April.
Yeung was disappointed for having missed out on the medal, saying she was in great shape to break her own record in Tianjin, but became too excited after the qualifying round – and stayed awake at night.
Watch: Hong Kong’s Lui Lai-yiu (far left) in the semi-finals of 100m women’s hurdles
