Hong Kong wushu star Lydia Sham says National Games could be harder than world event
World champion and World Games champion says competing at Chinese Games will not be ‘straightforward and easy’, as some have suggested
Wushu exponent Lydia Sham Hui-yu has said she will feel different heading to the coming National Games next month carrying the tag of world champion.
Sham, 25, won a Changquan gold medal at the world championships in Brasilia, Brazil, last month to add to the Duilian world championships title she won in Texas in 2023.
“It wasn’t my first world title, but it’s not the same taking part in the National Games with this identity,” said Sham, who also won the Changquan-Jianshu-Qiangshu all-round gold medal at the World Games in Chengdu in August.
“First, more Hong Kong people are paying attention to this edition [because we are co-hosting it]. It’s my second Chinese Games and I hope I can perform at my level, and showcase the abilities of the city’s wushu athletes.”
A physiotherapy student at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Sham also said she was aware of suggestions that it should be “straightforward and easy” to compete in the national multi-sport event as a world champion.
Instead, she argued that the difficulty level at the National Games was much higher than that of a world championship.