Performing under pressure helps produce record-setting gold, medal totals for Hong Kong

There has been a common theme running through Hong Kong’s Asian Games gold medallists when it comes to talking about the pressure of being on top: Siobhan Haughey and James Christie both referred to it as a privilege, and it would not be a surprise to discover it is an entirely alien concept to Coleman Wong Chak-lam.

Before Saturday, Hong Kong had never won a medal in men’s tennis at the Games, let alone gold. Faced with making history, adding another title to the city’s growing collection and securing a spot at the Los Angeles Olympics in two years, Wong did not even blink while wrapping up a straight-sets victory against Wu Yibing.

Neither did the men’s rugby sevens team, who won their competition for the third straight time. In a seemingly inexorable march to the final over the course of three days, Hong Kong outscored their opponents 200-14, and then just for good measure thumped China 26-0 to win gold.

Without peers in Asia, they have not lost at the Games since being beaten 24-12 in the 2014 final by Japan, and captain Christie said his side now wanted to be “bigger in the world”.