The university launched the Elite Athlete Friendly University Fund yesterday, which provides scholarships for Olympians who are students or alumni of EdUHK, to support athletes pursuing a dual career in sports and studies.

Doo and Lee, who won the women's team table tennis bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, were each presented with a HK$120,000 full scholarship for them to pursue postgraduate studies at EdUHK.

The table tennis pair aimed to complete their bachelor's degree of health education in five years and to study a master degree afterward.

"A university [bachelor's] degree is not competitive enough in the society now," Lee said, adding she's looking forward to studying on the campus.

Her teammate, Doo, said she has thought about becoming a coach in the future, or possibly opening a table tennis training center or a restaurant.

Both Lee and Doo's mothers attended the presentation ceremony where they encouraged other parents to let their children pursue their dreams.

"I think trust is very important. Parents should believe in their children and communicate with them," Doo's mother said.

Lee's mother sobbed when recalling her daughter chasing her table tennis dream while preparing for public exams, but she was relieved after seeing her daughter achieved good results in sports and academic.

Three EdUHK students who competed in the Olympics - windsurfer Michael Cheng Chun-leung, cyclist Leung Bo-yee, and gymnast Shek Wai-hung - were also awarded a half scholarship of HK$60,000.

Two "Elite Athlete Friendly University Ambassadors" - cycling legend Wong Kam-bo and karateka Lee Chun-ho - were also awarded HK$30,000.

"Our athletes have endured hardships and made sacrifices in representing Hong Kong. We are delighted to support their further studies, as part of our commitment to promoting the rounded development of sportspeople. I believe they will benefit from university education in their pursuit of career paths," said EdUHK president Stephen Cheung Yan-leung.

University Grants Committee chairman Carlson Tong Ka-shing who was also at yesterday's ceremony said 115 full-time athletes in Hong Kong Sports Institute are studying in universities. He urged local universities to recruit the other 400 athletes as students.

Elsewhere in Tokyo, Hong Kong boccia player Leung Yuk-wing failed to defend his crown in the BC4 individual event after losing to Pornchok Larpyen.

He will be playing in the bronze medal match this morning against China's Zheng Yuansen, after Zheng lost to 24-year-old Slovakian Samuel Andrejcik 2-5 in the other semi-final.

In the match against Larpyen, who snatched bronze in both the individual and pair events in the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Leung made two critical mistakes in the penultimate end which made him suffer a two-point deficit into the final end.

There was a glimpse of hope in the final end, as Leung, competing in his fifth Paralympics, was unable to seize the opportunity to win a comeback victory at his final ball, which did not go as planned, and lost the game 3-6.

He will also be competing alongside Vivian Lau Wai-yan on Thursday in the BC4 pairs event.

Earlier in the morning, he eased through the quarter-finals after thrashing 26-year-old Michaela Balcova from Slovakia 8-0.

Leung's teammate in the later pairs event, Lau, was earlier eliminated in the quarterfinals after losing 1-4 to Andrejcik although winning all three earlier group stage matches.

In another class, Yeung Hiu-lam was also knocked out of the BC2 individual event after losing by a point to Brazilian Maciel Santos 5-6.