Hong Kong wushu athlete Lydia Sham Hui-yu has thanked EXO member KAI after winning the city’s first gold medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, fulfilling a promise she made to the K-pop star.
The 26-year-old won the women’s Changquan gold medal with a score of 9.173 on Monday (Sep 21), securing Hong Kong’s first gold of the Games.
After her victory, Sham posted a video on social media thanking KAI and sharing footage from an EXO fansign event she attended in July.
In the footage, Sham told KAI she would try her best to win a gold medal at the Asian Games.
KAI then asked if she would win the gold medal if he performed a gesture for her. Sham replied that she would try her best before asking him to make the crown gesture from his song CROWN as encouragement.
The video then cuts to footage of Sham competing at the Asian Games and celebrating her victory on the podium, with the caption: “I really won the gold medal at the Asian Games!”
In a Korean message accompanying the video, Sham said she had given her all to keep her promise and thanked EXO and KAI.
She also said she would see them at their encore concert from Nov 6 to 8.
Details of Sham’s competition outfit also showed her connection to EXO. Designed by her elder sister, the outfit featured a Lion Rock motif on the back, symbolizing the spirit of Hong Kong, as well as an EXO logo.
Sham said she added the EXO logo herself after learning that her sister had used a hexagonal design as the main element of the outfit.
“I really like EXO, so after knowing that my sister was using the hexagon as the main element, I added the EXO logo myself,” she said.
Sham later responded to fans on social media after netizens discovered that she was an EXO-L, saying the group had given her “a lot of strength.”
“There was no way I could break a promise after making one,” she said.
She also wrote: “Secret: The strength to persevere comes from EXO.”
Sham’s social media posts show her frequently attending EXO concerts and fansign events, alongside posts about her wushu career.
