A video uploaded to Lydia Sham Hui-yu's Instagram shows her conversation with EXO's Kai and her getting a gold medal at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026.SCREEN CAPTURE
Hong Kong wushu athlete Lydia Sham Hui-yu kept a promise she made to boy band EXO’s Kai in spectacular fashion — by winning gold at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026.
Sham won the women’s changquan final on Monday with a score of 9.713 and handed Hong Kong’s first gold medal of the Games. It was also Hong Kong's first Asian Games gold in wushu since the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.
After her victory, Sham uploaded to Instagram a video of a conversation she had with Kai at an EXO fan signing event, where she promised to try to win a gold medal.
In the video, Sham asked Kai to do a move from the choreography for EXO’s song "Crown," and Kai asked whether she could win a gold medal if he did it.
Sham replied she would do her best, and Kai then smiled and struck the pose.
The video then cuts to Sham standing on the podium with the gold medal around her neck, accompanied by the caption, "I kept my promise!"
"I worked hard to keep this promise," Sham wrote and thanked the singer. "See you at the encore concert Nov. 6-8!"
Hong Kong's Lydia Sham Hui-yu shows her gold medal during the women's changquan final medal ceremony on Sept. 21.REUTERS/YONHAP
Sham's devotion to EXO was also on display during the competition itself. The wushu uniform she wore in the final featured EXO’s logo on the back.
“I really like EXO,” Sham told Hong Kong newspaper Sing Tao Daily. “When my older sister told me she had used a hexagon as a design element [on the uniform], I added the EXO logo myself.”
Sham also shared a photo of herself with EXO on Instagram in July, describing herself as a fan of the group for 13 years.
“One of the reasons I became a professional athlete was that when I was young, I watched EXO and thought I wanted to shine onstage like them,” Sham said at the time. “Thank you for giving me the motivation to keep improving.”
The Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 marks Sham's third appearance at the Asian Games after competing in 2018 and 2023. She also served as a flag bearer for the Hong Kong delegation at this year's opening ceremony.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
