Footie fever as HK nears high

More than 300 HK$1 tickets for tonight's livestream of the Asian Games football semi-final between Hong Kong and Japan at a Causeway Bay cinema were sold out in three minutes yesterday.

Fans watching game at an Emperor Cinemas theater, reserved by the Hong Kong Football Association specially for the historic match, in Times Square, will get free popcorn and can buy drinks at half-price.

Fans can enter the theater at 5.30 pm, half an hour before the match at Xiaoshan Gymnasium in Hangzhou begins.

The team stunned Iran 1-0 in the quarterfinals on Sunday to make the first ever Hong Kong semi-final, while Japan defeated North Korea 2-1 in the other quarterfinal.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said the team has made Hong Kong proud and that the SAR administration will organize activities to show its support.

This came as Hong Kong's medal tally as of last night hit 45 - six golds, 15 silvers and 24 bronzes - bringing it very close to beating the record of 46 in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.

Lee said Hong Kong's athletes have snatched their first gold in several sports events, including swimming, fencing and golf, and that it is heartening to see the football team in the semi-finals for the first time.

The latest medal came with 27-year-old Vincent Lau Wan-yau making history by snatching a bronze in the road cycling event yesterday.

Lau's medal marks the first time a Hong Kong male cyclist has set foot on the podium in the Asian Games.

In the men's individual time trial race yesterday afternoon, Lau was the second athlete to reach the intermediate point of the 39.6-kilometer track, clocking in at 25 minutes and 59.02 seconds, merely less than one minute behind leader Alexey Lutsenko from Kazakhstan.

But Lau was overtaken by China's Xue Ming and finished the 14-strong race in 50 minutes and 17.76 seconds, around two minutes behind winner Lutsenko.

In a post-race interview, Lau said: "I had expected to finish somewhere between third and sixth, and my goal was to win a medal, but I had been uncertain whether I could do it, as there were many professional cyclists."

"But my goal has been achieved, and to me, it is a breakthrough," he added.

He also credited the weather for his win, as it started to cool down yesterday afternoon: "I felt great and therefore went for it from the start, and it worked."

"The medal is very meaningful to me and to the cycling team, and I believe this is only a start," Leung added.

Hong Kong has already locked in at least six medals, including two in bridge after the men's and women's team both entered the semifinals.

They will be fighting for a place in the final today.

In squash, the mixed-doubles team - consisting of Tong Tsz-wing, Tang Ming-hong, Lee Ka-yi and Wong Chi-him - has advanced to the semifinal, while two local athletes Chan Sin-yuk and Ho Tze-lok will be fighting each other for a place in the final in women's singles.

Another squash player Henry Leung Chi-hin has also entered the semifinals, and so all of them will at least get a bronze in their respective event.