Asia Triathlon Championships: Hong Kong head coach Wright spying ‘cracks in armour’ of star Ng’s Olympic rival
- Jason Ng and Bailee Brown both targeting a slew of Olympic qualifying points at Sunday’s race in Japan
- The pair beat their Kazakh rivals, Ayan Beisenbayev and Ekaterina Shabalina, at the Asia Triathlon Sprint Championships two weeks ago
Hongkonger Jason Ng Tai-long’s primary rival for Olympic qualification is beginning to show “cracks in his armour”, ahead of Sunday’s Asia Triathlon Championships in Japan.
That is the view of Andrew Wright, the Hong Kong head coach, who said Ng, in common with compatriot and Paris hopeful Bailee Brown, was delivering the best training performances of his young career.
Ng surpassed Ayan Beisenbayev in a neck-and-neck chase for the lone “new flag” Games qualification spot, after finishing fourth to the Kazakh’s 20th at the Asia Triathlon Sprint Championships in Dexing a fortnight ago.
The result leaves Beisenbayev, 44th in the Hong Kong-staged World Cup last month, scrambling to avoid a repeat of his Tokyo Olympics qualifying fate, when he was foiled by Ng’s teammate, Oscar Coggins.
“The Kazakh guy [Beisenbayev] has never qualified for an Olympics, this is his last chance, and we are beginning to see some cracks in his armour,” Wright said. “He is beginning to panic a little bit, the team all looked very panicked in China [at sprint championships], and they are making mistakes.
