Ceci Lee Sze-wing shook off the mental trauma caused by her recent accident, claiming bronze on the opening day of the Japan Championship on Thursday.
It would have been better for the Hongkonger if he had not followed the remarkable lapse of attention from fellow Hongkonger Chloe Leung Wing-yee, by making the same mistake immediately.
With four laps remaining, Leung stopped pedaling in the delusional belief that he had been eliminated. After the 29-year-old retired from the track, with Yumi Kajihara duly eliminated, none of the remaining three riders were to be eliminated following the next lap.
Third across the line, however, Lee believed that was the end of his race and slowed to a stop.
Japan’s Tsuyaka Uchino won gold, with silver going to China’s Chen Ning, the rider Lee won gold at the Asian Track and Field Championships in the same discipline in March.
“(Lee and Leung) both ran well but neither of them listened to the commissaire (race referee) to know who was disqualified,” said Herve Dagorne, Hong Kong’s head coach.
“Wing-yee was not removed, another rider was in front of him but he stood alone without any information, then it was too late.
