Asian Games: Hong Kong ‘can’t let cycling team have no medals’, Ceci Lee says before Hangzhou tilt without retired Sarah Lee
- Ceci Lee carries her city’s hopes for medals in the first Games since podium regular Sarah Lee ended her stellar career this year
- ‘Because Sarah Lee has left the team, there’s a big stress for the endurance group,’ Ceci Lee says
Hong Kong’s cyclists head to the Asian Games next month keenly aware that they have much to live up to in the absence of Sarah Lee Wai-sze.
Lee’s retirement, confirmed this year, has removed a mainstay of Hong Kong’s past three Games squads, but Ceci Lee Sze-wing, who will compete in Hangzhou, sees it as the remaining riders’ responsibility to compensate.
Five gold medals, as well as one silver and a bronze, had been supplied across those three editions by the two-time Olympic medallist, placing a weight of expectation on the new generation. In fact, their city has a proud record of reaching the cycling podium at the past six Asian Games, starting in 1998 in Bangkok.
“This is the first Asian Games for me, I think I’m in good shape, and I don’t want to lose this chance,” Ceci Lee said. “Because Sarah Lee has left the team, there’s a big stress for the endurance group.
“We cannot let the cycling team have no medals, and we are working hard for this.”
Handling the pressure that comes with that track record is something the 22-year-old has had to learn – aided by advice from Sarah Lee herself, who at 14 years her senior is moving into coaching.
