Photo: Edith Tsang

After organising the Equestrian Olympics in 2008, Hong Kong, as the host city of the 5th East Asian Games, continues to shine in the international sports arena this year. Being able to hold such an international multi-sports event is not easy. Though there are a couple of scandals during preparation, athletes and support staff do work hard for the legendary moment. It is time to showcase our persistence and hard work to the world. This is Hong Kong and this is what sports should be promoting.

Ines Narvaez, Cathie Guo, Candice Wong and Thomas Yau report.


Cheng goes against all the odds

Written by Ines Narvaez, Cathie Guo, Candice Wong and Thomas Yau
Thursday, 29 October 2009

It was an afternoon in July 2009, five months before the East Asian Games (EAG) opening. Lisa Cheng Lai-sho, a 23-year-old bodybuilding athlete, was crying in her bed when she should start pushing herself beyond her limits.

Cheng joined the "fitness and figure" competition listed under the bodybuilding sports, which emphasizes on muscle symmetry and muscle tone over muscle size.

Long before she started her profession in bodybuilding, she had won a champion in rock climbing.

During the past six months she had been living and training in Guangzhou for 12 hours a day, solely for the East Asian Games' bodybuilding event and she had even ceased her training in rock climbing.

Other than the tough training by herself, no professional support is there to work on her training schedule, advise her diet or monitor her physical conditions.

Since there was no one sponsoring her, she needed to come back to Hong Kong every weekend to work as a fitness trainer. She used the salary to pay for her training programmes and personal expenditure.

But perseverance and self-discipline do not guarantee success sometimes - the HKSAR government cancelled the bodybuilding event on July 21 this year because of "lack of consensus between the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) and Asian Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (ABBF) on the appointment of International Technical Officials and Judges".

The two federations have opened fire with each other for a long time since the ABBF approved three Hong Kong athletes who did not pass drug tests in 2005 to join the 2006 Asian Games.

“This is not true...This is not true...” she kept saying to herself until a dozen of journalists interviewed her on the phone and confirmed her the news. Her efforts were blown away and her dreams seemed to be destroyed.

A few days later, she finally calmed down and started to sort the whole thing out. Like every athlete who fell down and managed to stand up again, there was a point where her personality kicked in and salvaged her from sorrow and tears.

“Even I lost a chance, I still have to be tough...Competition is just a small piece in my life and life is filled with ups and downs,” Cheng says.

In the past few months, she joined the Asian Bodybuilding and Fitness Championship and won one silver and one bronze medal. Then she won the championship in another competition held in Guangzhou. These achievements all come from her preparation in this year.

She says, “I didn't have to give up myself because the EAG had gone, after all I do all these trainings for myself and I do enjoy the fruitful results in the competition.”

During that adverse period, she was counting on herself to overcome those obstacles, a trait that emerged at the early stage of her career.

She explains, “I remember when I first left my [rock climbing] coach because of some arguments, I wanted to prove to my coach by always trying to be the best. ”

Since then, she has developed into an independent person.

“I want to achieve success with my own efforts. I don't want to depend on others' help,” she says.

She is an ordinary girl who likes to look pretty and also loves running and climbing around since her childhood.

"Bodybuilding gives me chances to do what I love. When I am on the stage, showing my beauty and efforts to others, I get great satisfaction if the audience is cheering for my abilities," she adds, "I love this kind of feeling and that motivates me to strive for better results.”

For the budding athlete, the goal of EAG has come to a termination but it has not hindered her ambitions to join more competitions, further her studies, improve her language skills and the biggest of it - to become a Kung Fu star someday.

“Chances are for those who are pre-pared,” she says.

Edited by Simpson Cheung, Maverick Li, Edith Tsang and Connie Wan