Hong Kong hurdler Vera Lui considers legal action against online attacks following her disclosure of sexual assault
- Lui says she has recovered from the incident after her ‘MeToo’ revelation 12 months ago
- She receives a training grant of HK$53,000 for her achievement at the 2018 Asian Games
Hong Kong’s top hurdler, Vera Lui Lai-yiu, is considering legal action against a series of abuses online, 12 months after her disclosure as a sexual assault victim following the global “MeToo” movement.
“I am discussing [it] with my agent and legal action should be one of the options,” she said.
On her 23rd birthday late last year, Lui posted on Facebook that she was sexually assaulted by a coach 10 years ago. The post was accompanied by a photo of her holding a card on which “#MeToo” was written, with her initials “LLY”, in support of the hashtag campaign against sexual harassment.
Lui said her focus had long shifted back to her sporting career, especially after she became the first female athlete from Hong Kong to win a track and field medal at the Asian Games for over 60 years when she claimed a bronze in the 100-metre hurdles in Jakarta this summer.
“There are more people talking about women’s hurdles after my performance in Jakarta, thanks to the hard work of my supporting team and other Hong Kong hurdlers from different generations,” she said. “This is something good for the sport and we need more results to bolster Hong Kong’s track and field events.”
“There will be the Asian Championships in Doha in April and the World University Games in Naples in July and both are my targets,” said Lui, who is also studying for a physical education degree at Chinese University.
“The Olympic qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Games will also kick off next year, but it will be very difficult to make it as the qualifying mark will be under 13 seconds which requires a big improvement on my current result.”
Hong Kong’s 100-metre hurdles record of 13.14 seconds was set more than two decades ago by Chan Sau-ying, who now lives in the United States.
“The record has been there since 1994 and my biggest wish is to break it before talking about the Olympic Games,” she said.
