HK wushu athlete keeps promise to K-pop group Exo’s Kai with Asian Games gold

SEOUL – Hong Kong wushu athlete Lydia Sham won a gold medal at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Sept 20, fulfilling a promise she had made to Kai, her favourite member of K-pop boy band Exo, at a fan-signing event.

Sham posted about her victory on social media shortly after winning the women’s changquan event, tagging Exo and Kai’s official accounts.

“I really won an Asian Games gold medal! I worked so hard to keep this promise!” she wrote.

She also shared a video from a previous fan signing event showing her conversation with Kai.

“If I do a crown, are you getting a gold medal?” Kai asked while making a crown-shaped pose.

“I’ll try my best,” Sham replied.

Sham scored 9.713 points in the women’s changquan event at Aichi Prefectural Budokan on Sept 20, narrowly beating Macao’s Sou Cho Man, who scored 9.710. Indonesia’s Eugenia Diva Widodo placed third with 9.706, followed by Iran’s Zahra Kiani with 9.703.

Sham won by just 0.003 points, with only 0.010 points separating the top four finishers.

The Hong Kong athlete has frequently expressed her support for the K-pop boy band on social media and has incorporated references to the group into her training gear. She also pointed out an Exo-related element on her Asian Games competition outfit in the video.

“My costume even has Exo,” she said, before adding that she planned to attend the group’s encore concerts in Seoul in November.

Exo is scheduled to hold three encore shows for its sixth concert tour Exo Planet #6 – Exhorizon [dot] at the Kspo Dome in Seoul’s Olympic Park from Nov 6 to 8.

Sham has previously said that the group was one of the reasons she decided to become a professional athlete.

In July, she shared a photo taken with the members, describing it as an unforgettable moment after 13 years as an Exo fan.

“One of the biggest reasons I became a professional athlete was that when I was young, I watched Exo and wanted to shine onstage like them,” she wrote. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK