Kowloon City deputy magistrate Ko Wai-hung released Leung, 62, on HK$50,000 bail pending appeal. Following the sentencing, Leung's former girlfriend and victim Rita Lip Sik-ying, who described the assault as "disgraceful," said she would not have called police if she had not been beaten so severely.

Speaking to Sing Tao Daily, sister paper of The Standard, Lip, 45, described Leung as a womanizer who had many girlfriends.

Nevertheless, she saw him as an attractive man ever since meeting him through a friend about five years ago.

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"He is a kung fu master but is also knowledgeable about everything," said Lip, adding she has not been in touch with Leung since the March assault. "I have mixed feelings about the sentence, considering we had been together for a few years."

After hearing Ko's guilty verdict, Leung stood up twice in the dock and shouted that the court did not have the facts and a full picture of the incident.

Leung, the WingTsun founder, had denied one count of assault causing actual bodily harm.

In his ruling, Ko admitted the case involved a "one-against-one situation, with no independent witness."

But he said Lip was honest and did not exaggerate her case against Leung.

Neither did Ko believe Leung beat Lip out of self-defense. He said being found guilty would seriously hurt Leung's career.

Lip testified that Leung banged her head against the floor, kicked her in the stomach and boxed her ears during a dispute concerning one of his former wives.

But Leung, in refuting the claims, said Lip became upset when he did not give her the HK$50,000 she wanted for an abortion to be performed in Singapore.

Leung said Lip became hysterical and tried to jump from a window, and that he tried to save her by grabbing her arm and neck.

He also claimed Lip began hitting her head on the floor and banged on his neighbors' doors, shouting: "Leung Ting is hitting a woman."

A medical report on Lip indicated tenderness to her neck, redness to her face, bleeding to the eyes, and bruises.