JAKARTA—No bridge will ever be too far for Filipino Kong Te Yang, the oldest competitor at 85 years old in the Jakarta Palembang 18th Asian Games.
Yang, who leads the Philippine bridge team, stands as the super senior among the more than 11,500 athletes competing in the Games. In fact, according to the daily Asian Games News’s edition on Saturday, 76 years separate Yang from the youngest athlete in the field—nine-year-old Akliqqa Novvery, who is entered in the new sport of skateboarding.
Yang was born in China in January 3, 1933, while Noverry celebrated her ninth birthday last February 2.
Bridge and skateboarding are debuting on the Asian Games program.
In the Asian Games, age doesn’t matter.
Yang is not the only octogenarian in the Games. He joins Singapore’s bridge player Lai Chun Ng (82) and Malaysia’s Lee Hung Fung (81).
Eleven other bridge players are 70 to 79 years old, including Indonesian billionaire Bambang Hartono (78).
Hartono may not be the oldest, but he is definitely the richest with a net worth of $16.7 billion, the Asian Games News reports said. His business empire that spreads to tobacco, banking and telecommunications.
Bridge, which will be played at the JIExpo Kemayoran Ballroom, also “boasts” of 30 players in the 60 to 69 age range.