Poon O-yu has recorded the best test times the rowing coaches at the Hong Kong Sports Institute had ever seen, for her age.
In training, she achieved the best percentage times relative to world standards compared to other junior crews and also did well against the senior rowers. The big test was how she would compete against international competition.
And the 16-year-old passed with flying colours, not only winning the gold medal at the Asian Junior Championships in Pattaya on Saturday but beating opponents who were bigger and stronger than her.
“Poon is a lightweight athlete and the junior category does not have lightweight events, only open,” said Hong Kong Sports Institute head coach Chris Perry. “So competitors can be quite a bit larger in body size. I’m happy for the outcome.
“She came via our TID Programme and had some of the best testing scores for anyone of her age we have seen.”
Poon, who is still studying and is a part-time scholarship athlete at the Institute, was not the only Hong Kong rower who made the podium in Pattaya. Chan Yuk-man and Yip Ka-wing took bronze in the men’s open of the Asian Cup Regatta, which is running concurrently with the junior competition.
In the women’s lightweight doubles, Leung Win-wun and Cheung Hoi-lam won the silver.
The star of the Hong Kong team, however, was undoubtedly Poon, whose dominance over the field saw her win by more than 10 seconds over rowers from Japan and North Korea, who finished second and third respectively.
She maintains the Hong Kong tradition of producing strong women’s singles scullers, following in paths of Ho Kim-fai and Malina Ngai. Perry, though, said the Institute will support her should she decided to pursue the sport full time.
“Definitely she has a good basic talent in rowing in terms of her base physiology,” said Perry. “This also shows in her all around athletic ability – in school sports etc.
“One cannot make too many predictions, of course, when someone is only 16. How far she goes will depend most on her commitment and the time she can devote to training.
“We will need to discus further with her and her family. Certainly we would aim to work with her if she wants to aim higher.”
Poon clocked seven minutes, 42.5 seconds in her race, with the second-placed rower finishing in 7:53.7, with the North Korean timing 7:54.4.
Hong Kong recently claimed one gold, two silvers and a bronze at the recent Asian Championships in Chungju, South Korea.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Hong Kong teen Poon blows away bigger rivals to win Asian junior gold
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