The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s wushu sanda (Chinese kickboxing) athletes produced breakthrough performances at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, with Chan Tsz-ching securing the sanda team’s first-ever bronze medal and Leung Yu-hong advancing to the historic gold medal match to be held on Thursday.

The SAR delegation on Wednesday won one silver and three bronze medals, bringing the tally to 16 — three gold, six silver and seven bronze — securing joint sixth place in the gold-medal standing and fifth overall.

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In wushu sanda, Hong Kong’s Chan Tsz-ching secured a bronze medal in the women’s 52-kilogram event after losing 0-2 to Sogand Sinkaeichetan from Iran in the semifinal, marking the wushu sanda team’s first-ever Asian Games medal.

In the men’s 60-kg event, Chan’s fellow sanda teammate, the 21-year-old World Wushu Championships and Sanda World Cup winner Leung, defeated Indonesia’s Bintang Reindra Nada Guitara 2–1, advancing to Thursday’s final and securing at least a record sanda silver as his Asian Games debut.

The karate team clinched two medals in one day, including a silver won by Tsang Yee-ting in the Women’s Under-50 Kilograms Kumite, and a bronze in the men’s team kata, a first podium finish for the city in the discipline.

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In the men’s team kata bronze-medal playoff, Hong Kong’s Howard Hung Ho-wai, the bronze medalist in this year’s men’s individual kata, joined fellow karatekas Li Chi-kong and Hinx Tang Yu-hin to edge past Chinese Taipei in a 3-2 victory.

In addition, Hong Kong swimmer Natalie Kan Cheuk-tung raced to a bronze medal in the women’s 100-meter butterfly event, her first Asian Games individual medal, and broke the Hong Kong record previously held by “Flying Fish” Siobhan Haughey, touching the wall in 58.05 seconds.

Contact the writer at stacyshi@chinadailyhk.com