By Rod Parkes

Back in colonial days, the accepted wisdom was that Hong Kong did not produce world-class sportspeople. While this belief was a little unfair to those who brought home occasional medals from the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games in disciplines as diverse as lawn bowls, taekwondo and ten-pin bowling, these were isolated successes and the territory lacked strength in depth.

Apart from football (older fans will remember the glory days of Derek Currie), sport was largely an amateur affair. Parents typically discouraged their children from pursuing a sporting career, steering them instead to choices perceived as more lucrative, such as medicine and law.

This picture began to change with Lee Lai-shan’s first Olympic medal for the territory in 1996. Then after Hong Kong’s return to China, the SAR gained one further medal at each of the 2004 and 2012 games – but it was the breakthrough performance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021) that was a real game-changer. Having never won more than one medal at any previous Olympiad, the territory came away with six, including one gold.

This remarkable success story for the SAR was followed by an even more impressive performance at the just concluded 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou (held in 2023), which yielded a record 53 medals, as well as breaking several local and Asian records. These results have been widely acclaimed, but critics are already questioning whether this level of achievement can be sustained. So how does Hong Kong really stack up against the competition?

In the official results table, which is traditionally ranked in order of gold medals won, Hong Kong stood in 49^th place out of the 206 competing territories, 93 of which won medals, in Tokyo. In Hangzhou, it finished 12^th out of 45 – both creditable top quartile finishes. But there are other ways of looking at the results.

For a start, the focus on gold medals can give an unjust impression of total performance. In Tokyo, Ukraine earned a commendable 19 medals overall, making it 16^th by total medal count, but, with just one gold, only 44^th in the official medals table – not too far above the three territories which earned a solitary gold but no other medals: Bermuda, Puerto Rico and Morocco in 63^rd place. In Hangzhou, Kazakhstan ranked 5^th in total medals, but only 10^th in golds. By this measure, Hong Kong’s ranking improved from 49^th to 40^th in Tokyo, and 12^th to 10^th in Hangzhou.

As expected, the medals table is invariably dominated by the most populous countries: the USA in Tokyo, and China at both events, with Japan (host nation in 2021) coming in behind them. South Korea was the next ranked Asian country, while India atoned for its lacklustre Olympic showing with a respectable performance in Hangzhou, where the Games featured more of the sports in which it excels, such as cricket which gave it two golds. And Uzbekistan emerged as a new sporting powerhouse, coming in just behind the leaders with a strong 5^th or 6^th place finish in golds and total medals respectively across a range of sports.

Compared with these giants, Hong Kong is a minnow. They have the advantage of much larger populations to pick from – China alone has 188 times as many people as the SAR. Adjust the results to take account of population, however, and things look startlingly different, with several “little big winners” coming into play. The diminutive republic of San Marino, with fewer than 35,000 inhabitants, topped the table in Tokyo, with its tiny team of five entrants winning three medals – a feat even more remarkable considering the enclave had never previously won a medal. Two small island territories, Bermuda (population 65,000) and Grenada (113,000) took the next two places. On this metric, Hong Kong ranked significantly higher at 30^th, while China dropped to 77^th and the USA to 60^th.

On a per capita basis in Hangzhou, Bahrain would have raced to victory, with 10 of its 12 golds coming in athletics. Second-placed Macau – which did not even compete in Tokyo – captured six medals, all in Wushu. Hong Kong came in third, with its 53 medals spanning a more diverse range of events across almost all the 40 disciplines featured. Hong Kong’s traditional strengths in swimming, cycling, fencing – spearheaded by Edgar Cheung Ka-long – and rugby sevens were on full display, but successes also came in less expected disciplines like rowing, equestrianism, golf, triathlon, squash, and even bridge.

Of course, not all small territories did well – Bhutan, usually expert in archery, was off the mark this time, joining two other minuscule countries and war-torn Yemen which also struck out. Not that a large population is any guarantee of sporting success – the world’s second (now first) most populous nation, India, sat at the foot of the table on a medals per capita basis in Tokyo, with fourth most populous Indonesia only two places above it at 91^st.

Nor is a large team an advantage in absolute terms, but as a percentage of population it appears to help – several countries with a sizable squad relative to their populations, including San Marino, Grenada and New Zealand, did well in Tokyo on a per capita basis. Macau’s per capita success in Hangzhou may owe something to the fact that one Macau citizen in every 3,709 was in its team. Hong Kong and Bahrain also ranked high on this metric, with one in 10,898 and 11,028 respectively. At the opposite end of the scale, only one in every three million Syrians and one in two million Indians was in their country’s delegations.

Beyond population, cultural differences play a part in success – sports-mad countries like Australia and New Zealand regularly punch above their weight. Conversely, in some places, religious and cultural factors limit the development of sporting potential, particularly among women. Afghanistan’s Taliban regime halves the country’s chances by fielding only men, and while Saudi Arabia has plenty of sand, don’t expect to see a Saudi women’s beach volleyball team in bikinis any time soon! This is not a concern in Hong Kong, with four women among its five medal winners in Tokyo – ever-improving swimmer Siobhan Haughey won two, making up the total of six, and topped this with six medals in Hangzhou.

A country’s sporting culture also helps determine the sports in which it can compete successfully. Where a country’s national sport is not on the Games roster, this tends to handicap its chances. Some sports come and go from the Games; and Grace Lau’s wins for Hong Kong in karate at both Tokyo and Hangzhou will not be repeated in Paris 2024, when the sport will not be featured. Indeed, some countries’ national sports, such as camel racing in the UAE, or the rough-and-tumble variant of polo played with a goat carcass in Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan, are unlikely ever to feature at an Olympiad. With no specific national sport, Hong Kong’s effort was spread across 14 different sports in Tokyo and more than 30 in Hangzhou.

How successful were Hong Kong’s athletes individually? One more way of looking at the results is the proportion of each country’s athletes who succeed in winning a medal. In Tokyo, San Marino (0.6 medals per athlete) and Bermuda (0.5) were clear winners, with at least half their teams of five and two respectively taking a medal home. Hong Kong gained 0.143 medals per athlete, placing it equal with three other countries in 21^st place. In Hangzhou, China achieved the remarkable feat for a large country of winning more than 0.432 medals per team member, while Hong Kong was in mid-table at 0.077.

Efforts have been made to analyse Olympic results by the Gross Domestic Product of competing territories, but correlation is difficult because of varying income equality and the differing natural advantages enjoyed by some countries. Nevertheless, a country’s relative wealth certainly has an impact on its sporting success. Football is the most popular game in the world because all it requires is a ball, a patch of waste ground, and some improvised goal markers. Basketball is another favourite in poorer countries, with only a ball and two hoops needed.

By contrast, other sports require considerably more expensive equipment, such as boats and sailboards, horses, or other facilities. Countries prosperous enough to afford plentiful public swimming pools, tennis courts and golf courses have a head start in developing sporting talent. It is unlikely that Sarah Lee would have become the first local competitor to win medals in two different Olympiads – London 2012 and (nail-bitingly late) in Tokyo if Hong Kong had not invested in a velodrome. And much of the SAR’s success in recent years has been shepherded by the Hong Kong Sports Institute, founded as the Jubilee Sports Centre in 1982. Many of Hong Kong’s champions have emerged from the Institute, which provides training and financial support to promising young athletes in selected sports.

Meanwhile poverty-stricken Bangladesh is the most populous nation never to have won an Olympic medal. It won only two in Hangzhou, despite its massive 170 million population. In 2008, Bangladesh’s Olympic Association head Wali Ullah attributed the country’s poor results to its weak economy and widespread corruption. Pakistan, with three medals – one per 83 million of its population – fared only slightly better. At the other end of the scale, Macau brought home a remarkable one medal per 79,000 people.

From whatever perspective one views it, Hong Kong’s sporting performance has advanced by leaps and bounds in recent decades, yielding excellent results in Tokyo and Hangzhou. Questions about the scale and allocation of government subsidisation are certainly legitimate – some well-funded athletes were left trailing in Hangzhou – but ultimately, winning depends on the talent and determination of the contestants. As Hong Kong’s sporting heroes inspire a new generation of dedicated youngsters to take up sport, future success will surely follow.

Rod Parkes has lived and worked in Hong Kong since 1975. His “portfolio career” has spanned IT, HR, quality management, teaching, brand strategy, and three decades of writing and editing for clients ranging from start-ups to major multinationals, with occasional forays into journalism on the side. He loves Hong Kong, for all its faults.

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A Hong Kong man who displayed a British colonial flag during a FIFA World Cup qualification match was taken aside by police.

Around 15 minutes before the match, a man wearing a hat and a white shirt held up Hong Kong’s colonial-era flag in the Hong Kong Stadium’s spectator stand. He was soon approached by at least two plainclothes police officers and led away, Yahoo News reported.

Police then searched the man’s bag, according to photos by online media outlet The Collective.

In response to HKFP, the police said in a statement that they identified a 21-year-old man who “displayed a flag” when police were maintaining order at the stadium.

“Our staff therefore approached the man for further investigation. No one was arrested in the incident,” a police spokesperson told HKFP in Cantonese.

Police did not reply as to why the man was taken away and whether he returned to the spectator stand afterwards.

The colonial flag, emblazoned with the Union Jack and a dragon and lion motif, was adopted by the colonial government as Hong Kong’s flag from 1959 to 1997 before the city was returned to China.

The flag was waved occasionally at assemblies and marches during the 2019 protests and unrest. During the July 1 storming of the Legislative Council building in 2019, some protestors hung the flag on the podium after breaking into the building.

Tam Yiu-chung, a pro-Beijing politician who is a former member of the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress, told media outlets in May 2020 – ahead of the national security law’s enactment – that he believed waving the colonial flag during marches would violate the legislation.

In November last year, a citizen journalist who waved the colonial flag while the Chinese national anthem was being played was sentenced to three-months’ jail for insulting the anthem. The incident, during which people were gathered at a mall to watch an Olympics medal ceremony, marked the first conviction under the National Anthem Ordinance which came into effect in 2020.

National anthem booed

Hong Kong matches have sometimes become platforms for political demonstrations in recent years.

Hong Kong football fans were heard booing China’s national anthem in September last year at Hong Kong Stadium, when the city saw its first match that was open to spectators after the government lifted Covid-19 restrictions.

A team of six policemen patrolled the stadium, with one holding up a video camera recording the scene as some fans booed “March of the Volunteers” for about 10 seconds before the Hong Kong team took on Myanmar, AFP reported.

During two Asian qualifiers for the World Cup in November 2019, when Hong Kong played against Bahrain and Cambodia, spectators also booed the national anthem. FIFA later fined the Hong Kong Football Association 30,000 Swiss francs (HK$30,500).

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Beijing, China

China has ordered the arrest of a former top sports official over alleged corruption, state media reported on Tuesday, as Beijing pursues a crackdown on graft in the sector.

The arrest warrant for Du Zhaocai, the former vice head of the General Administration of Sport of China, comes days after he was booted out of the ruling Communist Party.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has led a clampdown on official misconduct since coming to power a decade ago. Proponents say the campaign helps to ensure honest governance, but critics say it allows Xi to purge his political rivals.

“China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) has ordered the arrest of Du Zhaocai… for suspected bribe-taking,” said a report by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

“The case was transferred to procuratorial authorities for examination and prosecution following the conclusion of an investigation by the National Commission of Supervision.”

A previous Xinhua report on Saturday said Du had “illegally accepted gifts and money” and was “found to have taken advantage of his posts to seek profits for others in business operations and employee recruitment”.

In addition to expelling him, the CCP would also “confiscate his illicit gains”, according to the report.

Du joins a growing tally of sports figures in China investigated this year for corruption.

That list includes Liu Jun, the head of China’s top professional football league, and notable football personalities such as former national coach Li Tie, who has been criminally charged with bribery and other violations.

In June, China’s national snooker body issued lifetime bans to two players involved in a match-fixing scandal that sent shockwaves through the sport.

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Hong Kong has bagged a record-breaking total of 53 medals at the 19th Asian Games, which came to a close in Hangzhou, China, on Sunday evening.

Hong Kong’s 660 athletes were among 12,000 from all 45 members of the Olympic Council of Asia who competed at the sporting event over the past two weeks.

The Hong Kong delegation took eight gold medals at the games. Olympic fencing champion Edgar Cheung scooped a historic gold for the city on the first day of the quadrennial event, while star swimmer Siobhan Haughey took home two gold medals – one in the 200-metre freestyle and another in the 100-metre freestyle as she set a new Asian record.

The Hong Kong men’s rugby sevens team defended their top spot by defeating South Korea in the final, and golfer Taichi Kho took gold in the men’s individual event.

Cyclist Yang Qian-yu clinched gold in the women’s road race in a remarkable cap on her career ahead of her imminent retirement. Rowers Lam San-tung and Wong Wai-chun also won gold for the city in the men’s pair final.

Hong Kong ended up ranking 12th overall as the athletes rounded out the games with 16 silver medals and 29 bronze. The women’s epee team took silver after losing to South Korea 36-34, while the women’s cycling team scooped bronze by defeating South Korea.

Much to the dismay of local football diehards, Hong Kong was thrashed by Uzbekistan in the bronze medal match in a 4-0 defeat. But the team still went further than they have before by finishing fourth.

Chinese chess player Wong Hok-him, who took bronze alongside his teammates, was the flag bearer for Hong Kong on Sunday. Rugby veteran Salom Yiu took up the role of joint-flag bearer, closing out his final Asian Games.

Leader’s congratulations

Chief Executive John Lee congratulated the athletes in a statement, calling their achievements at the 19th edition of the games “very encouraging” and adding that it was their perseverance and hard work that earned them applause and support.

“The Hong Kong athletes had endured arduous training over the years and fought hard in the competitions, displaying professional sportsmanship. I believe that all Hong Kong people, like myself, are extremely proud of the grace shown by all our athletes in the Games,” he said.

Sports sector lawmaker Kenneth Fok, chef de mission of the Hong Kong, China delegation, said young up-and-comers had achieved outstanding results in a “testament to the wealth of talent in Hong Kong’s sports sector.”

“I look forward to an even more vibrant sports development in Hong Kong,” Fok said in a statement.

The Hong Kong government and the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China will hold a homecoming ceremony for athletes on Saturday.

On Sunday, China topped the table with a total of 383 medals – 201 of them gold – followed by Japan with 52 gold, 67 silver, and 69 bronze. Korea took third place overall with 190 medals, 42 of which were gold, 59 silver, and 89 bronze.

Aichi and Nagoya will be co-hosting the 20th edition in 2026, making them Japan’s third games, after it last hosted in Hiroshima in 1994, and Tokyo in 1958.

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Hong Kong athletes have added to their medal haul in the second week of the 2023 Asian Games. Some 660 athletes travelled from the city to compete in the sporting event in Hangzhou, China, which runs until Sunday. Click here for Part 1.

Golfer Taichi Kho took gold in the men’s individual event last Sunday, while the Hong Kong men’s football team went further than they have before, reaching the semi-final after defeating Iran. They were kept from the final – and a gold or silver medal – after losing to Japan, but will play Uzbekistan for bronze on Saturday.

As of Friday, the Hong Kong, China, team stood at 12th in the medals table with seven gold, 16 silver and 29 bronze medals. China remained in the lead with 179 gold, 99 silver and 55 bronze medals, followed by Japan and South Korea.

Cyclist Yang Qian-yu clinched gold in the women’s road race on Wednesday, a remarkable cap on her career ahead of her imminent retirement.

The Hong Kong Esports team won their first medal, earning silver for the computer game, Dream Three Kingdoms 2 last Saturday.

On Thursday, squash player Simmi Chan won a silver in the women’s singles, while Olympic medallist Grace Lau won bronze in the women’s individual Kata event.

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More than 98 per cent of the submissions received by Hong Kong authorities were opposed to a controversial plan to build public housing on part of the Fanling golf course, the Town Planning Board (TPB) has said, as the Hong Kong Golf Club cited the city’s Asian Games wins in golf events as a reason to preserve the site.

The board revealed at a meeting on Tuesday that only 23 of the 1,903 valid submissions it received from the public were in support of the housing drive. The board previously called for the public to share their views on the plan to build public developments to address the city’s housing crisis on part of the Hong Kong Golf Club’s Fanling site.

The proposal has attracted criticism from the club’s supporters who say the course is a world-class facility that should be preserved.

The Environmental Protection Department in May conditionally approved a plan to build subsidised housing for 33,600 residents on a 9.5-hectare plot of the Fanling course.

But the plan hit a snag in August, when a court decided to extend the suspension of the approval of an environmental impact report that may allow the construction. A judge cited a risk of “irreversible” environmental damage and the course’s “important cultural heritage.”

The TPB meetings will continue on Thursday and Friday.

Leader vows golf support

Tuesday’s meeting came as Hong Kong’s golfing team saw a historic performance at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, with golfer Taichi Kho bagging the city’s first Asian Games gold medal in golf.

Asked at a regular Tuesday press conference about whether Kho’s achievements would prompt the government to reconsider the plan, Chief Executive John Lee firstly congratulated the athlete.

He said the authorities had “made a promise” to lend part of the plot taken back by the government in September to event organisers.

“Competition events can happen and there will be no problem with it, because we have promised we will give assistance including giving sufficient preparation time,” he said, without commenting on whether the government would press ahead with the public housing development plan.

Lee had said earlier this June that the government’s resumption plan would not affect international golf tournaments slated to be held in the city.

Asian Games wins

Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting, Hong Kong Golf Club Captain Andy Kwok said Hong Kong had the potential to make further achievements in golf, and asked the government to provide more support to the Hong Kong team by preserving the Fanling course as a “world-class” golfing facility.

Kwok said the team’s training time had been cut by 20 per cent since the government took back part of the course last month, adding that golfers were not supported by the Hong Kong Sports Institute, and instead relied on the club to provide funding and training.

“The greatest gift for the Hong Kong team would be to designate the eight holes as training grounds, and not for anything else,” he said, according to local media.

The club, which had previously lobbied its members to air their views on the housing plan, was one of the bodies that voiced opposition to the plan on Tuesday. The Heung Yee Kuk – a powerful rural body – was also among those who opposed the housing drive.

Judicial review pending

Several grounds were cited for opposing the housing plan, according to the brief for Tuesday’s meeting, including environmental, cultural conservation, and sports development concerns.

Among the grounds for opposition was the High Court’s interim order to put the government’s approval of the environmental impact report on hold pending a judicial review.

In response, the TPB said the court’s decision would in the meantime allow the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) to review the public housing plan in terms of the layout design, building height and development density.

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Coco Gauff said Friday there were “still a lot of questions” about the status of Peng Shuai, as international women’s tennis returns to Beijing for the first time since the Chinese star made sexual assault allegations against a top government official.

Peng, a former doubles champion, vanished from public view for weeks in late 2021 after she wrote on social media that she had been “forced” into sex with former vice premier Zhang Gaoli.

She later reappeared and denied making the claim, but the episode prompted the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) to pull its tournaments out of China pending an independent investigation.

The global governing body reversed its stance this year and is currently holding the China Open in Beijing.

Asked by AFP about Peng’s case, Gauff said it “was a concerning situation when it happened and there’s still a lot of questions raised about that”.

“Regarding my safety here… the hospitality that I have received so far has been really great,” the US Open champion said at a press briefing.

“I’ve felt not the slightest bit of insecurity regarding (my own safety)… but obviously, I wish (Peng) the best and I hope that she’s doing well,” the 19-year-old said.

The China Open is taking place for the first time since 2019 after Beijing scrapped its years-long, isolationist zero-Covid policy.

The WTA’s boycott was seen as largely symbolic as China’s pandemic policy barred most international sport.

The organisation said in April it would reinstate its China tournaments even though Peng’s situation “has shown no sign of changing”.

“We have concluded we will never fully secure those goals, and it will be our players and tournaments who ultimately will be paying an extraordinary price for their sacrifices,” the organisation said at the time.

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Hong Kong athletes are continuing to add their medal haul at the 2023 Asian Games in China’s Hangzhou. Some 660 athletes are competing at the sporting event until October 8.

Olympic fencing champion Edgar Cheung scooped a historic gold for the city on the first day of the quadrennial event.

As of Thursday, the Hong Kong, China, team stood at seventh in the medals table with five gold, eight silver and 14 bronze medals. China remained in the lead with 81 gold, 44 silver and 21 bronze medals, followed by South Korea and Japan.

The Hong Kong women’s epee team earned a silver after losing to South Korea 36-34 on Wednesday, while the women’s cycling team scooped bronze by defeating South Korea.

Star swimmer Siobhan Haughey won her second gold of the games on Tuesday and set a new Asian record for the 100-metre freestyle.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong men’s rugby sevens team defended their gold by defeating South Korea in the final.

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Olympic fencing champion Edgar Cheung has clinched a historic gold for Hong Kong at the Hangzhou Asian Games, as the city bagged a total of two gold and five bronze medals on the first day of the quadrennial event.

The 26-year-old fencer added the Asian Games title to hist list of wins on Sunday night, when he crushed Chen Haiwei of China in the men’s foil individual final by a large margin of 15-2. Cheung’s win marked the first-ever gold medal for the city’s fencing team at the largest multi-sport event in Asia.

Another Hong Kong men’s foil representative Ryan Choi earned a bronze medal after losing to Chen 9-15 in the semi-finals. Women’s epee fencer Vivian Kong, who currently ranks second in the world, also picked up a bronze medal for the city. She defeated Tankisha Khatri of India to secure a spot in the top four for a medal, but was subsequently knocked out by South Korean fencer Song Sera, 11-15.

Sunday’s victory was a milestone in his professional career, Cheung said in a Cantonese post-match interview the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China. Cheung, who won an individual bronze medal at the previous Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, said he had hoped he could “change the colour” of his medal at this year’s event.

“I’m very glad I managed to do that. This is a very important experience for me,” he said.

The foilist, hailed as a “fencing god” after he ended the city’s  25-year Olympic gold medal drought in July 2021, went on to encourage people to hold on to their dreams and called for continued support for the Hong Kong team.

“When the level of fencing in Hong Kong was not very good, we also had to work step by step, with the assistance of a very good team and coaches,” he said.

See also: Interview: How YouTube meditation vids helped Hong Kong’s Edgar Cheung become Olympic fencing champion

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee and Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung clapped and cheered for Cheung at the arena on Sunday. They also met representatives from the fencing team and congratulated Cheung in person after the event.

“With their superb fencing skills, Cheung, Choi and Kong performed well throughout the competition. Their achievements make our high hopes come true. I am very pleased with their excellent performance, as well as their demonstration of the demeanour of great athletes. I believe all of us will share the joy,” Yeung said in an English press release.

Rowing

Hong Kong scooped its first gold medal at this year’s Asian Games in the rowing event on Sunday, when Lam San-tung and Wong Wai-chun made a splash in the men’s 2,000 metre pairs final. The duo crossed the finish line in 6:44.20, beating Uzbekistan and India.

Their win marked the second Asian Games gold medal for the rowing team since 2014.

The rowing team continued its medal streak on Monday morning, when Cheung Hoi-lam and Leung King-wan came in second in the women’s pair final. The team also added a bronze from Chiu Hin-chun in the men’s single sculls final.

Swimming

Another Olympic medallist and Hong Kong medal hope Siobhan Haughey picked up a bronze for the city in the women’s 50 metre breaststroke event. She set a new Hong Kong record in the finals by finishing the race in 30.36 seconds and placed third, while China’s Tang Qianting and Satomi Suzuki of Japan came first and second, respectively.

After a brief break, Haughey, who won two silvers at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, joined her teammates Tang Hoi-lam, Camille Cheng and Stephanie Au in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay event. The team finished in 3:39.10 to win bronze, as China set a new games record 3:33.96 to win the title, followed by Japan, 3:38.48.

Wushu

Wushu athlete Chen Suijin won a bronze for Hong Kong in the women’s taijiquan and taijijian all-round event. She scored a total of 19.476 in the two disciplines based on the quality of management, overall performance and degree of difficulty of her routine.

Liu Xuxu won a silver medal for the wushu team in women’s changquan on Monday morning.

The city sent some 660 athletes to the Hangzhou Asian Games, which runs until October 8.

As of Monday morning, Hong Kong places fifth on the medal tally with two gold, two silver and six bronze medals. China takes the lead with 27 gold, 11 silver and five bronze medals, followed by South Korea and Japan.

Hong Kong athletes who take home medals from the Asian Games are set to be awarded with cash prizes under the Jockey Club Athlete Incentive Awards Scheme. For individual events, gold medallists will receive HK$1 million, followed by HK$500,000 for silver and HK$250,000 for bronze. A gold medal in a team event would earn the athletes HK$2 million, while the rewards for silver and bronze are HK$1 million and HK$500,000, respectively.

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Hosts China swept the first gold medals at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Sunday in a statement of intent on day one of the region’s answer to the Olympics.

China claimed the first gold when Zou Jiaqi and Qiu Xiuping dominated the women’s lightweight double sculls rowing to kick off a medal rush for the home nation.

The Chinese pair finished in 7min 6.78sec, with Uzbekistan’s Luizakhon Islamova and Malika Tagmativa taking silver — almost 10 seconds behind.

“I am very excited as it’s my first Asian Games,” said Zou, clutching her gold medal.

“Stepping on to the podium today is a new starting point to help us prepare for next year’s Paris Olympics,” said Qiu.

Indonesia’s Chelsea Corputty and Rahma Mutiara Putri won bronze.

The hosts soon doubled up on the rowing lake as the men’s lightweight double sculls gold was won by Fan Junjie and Sun Man, who finished five seconds clear of India’s Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh.

China won six of the seven golds at the Fuyang Water Sports Centre rowing venue on Sunday morning with only Hong Kong’s Lam San-tung and Wong Wai-chun getting in on the party by winning the men’s pairs.

China’s shooters also claimed the women’s 10m team air rifle.

The hosts’ rip-roaring start to the 19th Asian Games, which end on October 8, continued as Sun Peiyuan won the first martial arts gold.

Sun successfully defended his men’s changquan wushu title from 2018, ahead of Indonesia’s Edgar Xavier Marvelo with Macau’s Song Chi-kuan third.

“I’m so very excited, I’m lost for words,” said Sun.

China won 10 of the first 11 golds in the early action on Sunday.

King Qin makes splash

Swimming is one of the highlights of the Games and will see seven finals later on Sunday at the Hangzhou Olympic Centre Aquatic Sports Arena, where China are also expected to dominate.

Triple breaststroke world champion Qin Haiyang upstaged Olympic gold medallist Wang Shun in the morning heats to qualify fastest for the men’s 200m individual medley final.

Qin burst on to the scene at the July world championships in Fukuoka, becoming the first man in history to sweep all three breaststroke titles and also setting a new world record in the 200m.

Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Zhang Yufei, also from the host nation, fired off a warning shot of her own with a dominant 200m butterfly swim, touching more than three seconds clear of teammate Yu Liyan and Japan’s Airi Mitsui.

South Korean sensation Hwang Sun-woo got the better of breakout Chinese freestyler Pan Zhanle in their 100m heat, though China’s Wang Haoyu qualified fastest in 48.13.

Elsewhere, India’s women cricketers ripped through Bangladesh, dismissing them for just 51 in the first semi-final.

They knocked off their target in just 8.2 overs and will face either Pakistan or Sri Lanka in Monday’s final of the Twenty20 competition.

Other sports beginning on Sunday include boxing, rugby sevens, hockey and the wildly popular eSports — where superstars such as South Korea’s “Faker” are expected to draw huge crowds for its debut as a full Asian Games medal event.

President Xi Jinping opened the Games on Saturday night after a delay of a year because of China’s now-abandoned zero-Covid policy.

With more than 12,000 competitors from 45 nations and territories, the Asian Games has more participants than the Olympics.

They will battle for medals in 40 sports across 54 venues.

Most events take place in Hangzhou, a city of 12 million people near Shanghai, but some sports are being staged in cities as far afield as Wenzhou, 300 kilometres (180 miles) to the south.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping opened the 19th Asian Games in a colourful ceremony in Hangzhou on Saturday, launching a two-week sporting extravaganza that boasts more athletes than the Olympics.

After being delayed by a year because of China’s now-abandoned zero-Covid policy, more than 12,000 competitors from 45 nations and territories will battle it out in 40 sports.

In front of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and other visiting leaders, Xi officially opened the Games at the 80,000-capacity Hangzhou Olympic stadium, also known as “the Big Lotus”.

Xi was given a rapturous reception by spectators waving mini Chinese flags.

Assad, on his first visit to ally China since the civil war erupted in Syria in 2011, stood up and applauded as his country’s team entered the arena and the crowd cheered when his image flashed up on a big screen.

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach was also among the dignitaries. Leaders from Cambodia, Kuwait and Nepal, among others, had all been expected to attend.

“Finally we can gather for the 19th Asian Games,” Raja Randhir Singh, acting president of the Olympic Council of Asia, told the crowd to more cheers.

“The one-year postponement was unprecedented in OCA history,” he added.

The theme of the ceremony was water and it also celebrated Hangzhou’s ancient history and landscape, while giving a nod to the city’s reputation as the unofficial home of China’s tech industry.

A “digital torch bearer” strode into the stadium and was projected onto a large screen behind the Games cauldron at the climax.

“I feel very happy and excited,” a 35-year-old woman spectator surnamed Zhang said.

“I feel it’s a great honour for the city.”

Jung-Woo Lee, sport policy expert at the University of Edinburgh, told AFP the Games were “China’s post-pandemic soft-power exercise”.

China’s status as a sporting and business destination took a severe hit during the pandemic, when snap lockdowns and strict travel rules saw almost all international events cancelled in the country.

The event has been rocked by a row between New Delhi and China over three Indian martial arts fighters, with a trip to the city by India’s sports minister cancelled on Friday.

China denied Indian claims that the trio had been barred from entering the country.

‘Open to all’

North Korean athletes, who like those from Taiwan were given loud cheers as they entered the ceremony, are contesting their first major international competition since the pandemic.

But the biggest cheer of all was reserved for hosts China, who are overwhelming favourites to top the medals table, with Japan and South Korea battling for second.

Games athletes will fight for medals in Olympic staples such as athletics, swimming, football, gymnastics and cycling.

ESports will make its debut as a medal event at the Games, in what is seen as a step towards inclusion in the Olympics.

There will also be regional specialities including dragon boat racing, the Chinese martial art wushu and kabaddi.

Nine sports — among them boxing, break dancing and tennis — will serve as Asia qualifiers for next year’s Paris Olympics.

A sprinkling of world and Olympic champions adds some stardust, including India’s javelin king Neeraj Chopra, Qatari high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim and Chinese swimming royalty Qin Haiyang and Zhang Yufei.

Olympic Council of Asia honorary life vice-president Wei Jizhong said having so many sporting disciplines was about giving opportunity to as many athletes as possible.

“We are open to all. This means our Games are not concentrated only for elite sportspeople,” he said.

Although the Games officially opened on Saturday, sports such as football, cricket, volleyball and table tennis had already begun.

The Games will be staged at 54 venues — 14 newly constructed — mostly in Hangzhou but also extending to cities as far afield as Wenzhou, 300 kilometres (180 miles) south.

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By Holmes Chan

Hong Kong is one of the smaller Asian Games teams by population, but when it comes to fencing the city is a regional heavyweight with ambitious medal hopes.

Edgar Cheung won gold at the Covid-delayed Tokyo Games two years ago — Hong Kong’s first Olympic fencing title and first Olympic gold in any sport in a quarter of a century.

It turned Cheung into a celebrity overnight and prompted parents across the Chinese territory of 7.5 million people to rush and sign their children up for fencing classes.

Cheung’s historic win in the foil competition was a much-needed dose of good news for a city mired in social unrest and pandemic gloom at the time.

With more funding and public attention as a result, Cheung and his team-mates now hope to stamp their mark on the Asian Games in Hangzhou when they open on Saturday.

Despite a strong record at recent editions, including eight medals in the sport in 2018, Hong Kong is yet to win fencing gold at the Asian Games.

“No matter for individual or team events, I hope we can (win gold at last),” the softly spoken Cheung, 26, said.

The city will have 24 fencers, 12 women and 12 men, at the Games.

Another gold-medal contender is 29-year-old Vivian Kong, who is ranked number two in the world in women’s epee.

There is also Ryan Choi, who along with Cheung was part of the Hong Kong team that won bronze in the men’s team foil at the world championships in July.

Cheung said the Hong Kong team have “improved greatly” since the 2018 Games in Jakarta.

The left-hander, who has recovered from a recent wrist injury, told AFP he wanted to “prove to our competitors they need to beware of us”.

Pathway to success

Fencing in the city stretches back decades, to when Hong Kong was a British colony, with its amateur fencing association founded in 1949.

The city had occasional success in the early 2000s, but it was the 2010 Asian Games, where Hong Kong fencers won seven medals, that first established them as a regional powerhouse.

Local organisers made efforts to popularise the sport, bringing classes to schools and community hubs in the past two decades -– that is where Cheung had his first taste of fencing.

Fencers also benefited from a reform to Hong Kong’s pipeline for discovering and training talent which allowed Cheung to devote himself to the sport full-time when he was 17 with his parents’ blessing.

Cheung’s final bout at the Tokyo Olympics drew hundreds of fans who crowded into a Hong Kong mall to watch the live broadcast, popping champagne corks after he emerged victorious.

Days later, then-city leader Carrie Lam announced more funding for elite Hong Kong athletes, including an expansion to the fencing hall at the institute where Cheung trains.

Fencing schools reported a spike in applications, although observers say interest has since tapered off somewhat.

Warning for star man

Gregory Koenig, who previously coached in his native France and also Taiwan, began working with Hong Kong’s fencers five years ago and has developed a close relationship with Cheung.

He had a warning for Hong Kong’s star man, who has slipped to seventh in the men’s foil world rankings.

“When you’re Olympic champion it’s very hard because everybody has an eye on you and everybody’s fighting hard against you,” Koenig said.

He said he told Cheung: “You have to understand that many people fight all their life to reach the goal you’ve already reached.”

“Okay, do you think you reached the maximum level and you want to stop here? Or are you still motivated for more?” Koenig says he told Cheung.

“He told me, ‘No, I really want to put my name in the history of fencing.'”

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By Peter Stebbings

The biggest Asian Games in history, boasting about 12,000 competitors — more than the Olympics — will open on Saturday in the Chinese city of Hangzhou after a year’s delay because of Covid.

Athletes including world and Olympic champions will fight for medals in 40 sports from athletics, swimming and football to eSports and bridge.

Nine sports, among them boxing, break dancing and tennis, will serve as qualifiers for next year’s Paris Olympics.

The Games were supposed to take place last September but were postponed because of China’s strict zero-Covid rules, before China’s ruling Communist Party abruptly abandoned the policy.

The 19th edition of the Games, which were first held in New Delhi in 1951, throws together competitors from 45 countries and territories across Asia and the Middle East.

For China, which hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics in a Covid-secure “bubble” in Beijing, it is a chance to show off its organisational, sporting and technological prowess after the pandemic years cut the country off from the sporting world.

“We have overcome a lot of challenges but we are now fully conditioned to hold a successful Games,” Chen Weiqiang, chief spokesperson for the Games, said on Wednesday.

Sport meets politics

The Games will be staged at 54 venues — 14 newly constructed — mostly in Hangzhou but also extending to cities as far afield as Wenzhou, 300 kilometres (180 miles) south.

The centrepiece is the “Big Lotus” Olympic stadium with a capacity of up to 80,000 where athletics and the opening and closing ceremonies will be staged.

President Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony and meet Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad there, along with other visiting leaders, Chinese state media says.

Assad is making his first visit to ally China since the war erupted in Syria in 2011.

Russian President Vladimir Putin likewise attended the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, along with Xi, and weeks later launched the invasion of Ukraine.

Hangzhou, a city of 12 million people an hour’s bullet train from Shanghai, is famed in China for its ancient temples, gardens and its beloved West Lake.

It is also the unofficial home of China’s tech industry, notably the birth place of Jack Ma’s Alibaba.

The Games will showcase some of the latest tech to come out of the city, including driverless buses, robot dogs and facial recognition.

China medal dash

Hosts China have topped the medals table at every Asian Games since 1982 and are expected to do so again by the time the curtain comes down on October 8.

They should reign in swimming, with Qin Haiyang fresh from his heroics at the world championships, where he announced himself as the new undisputed breaststroke king.

The 24-year-old swept all three men’s events and set a new world record in the 200m.

In athletics, another of the most closely watched sports, India’s Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra will defend his Asian Games javelin crown.

His nearest competitor should be world silver medallist Arshad Nadeem from arch-rivals Pakistan and the countries are also on a collision course in cricket and hockey.

ESports, in what is seen as a step towards Olympic inclusion one day, will make its full Asian Games debut having been a demonstration sport five years ago.

Lee Sang-hyeok, better known as “Faker”, has god-like status in League of Legends and will lead the South Korean charge at the futuristic-looking China Hangzhou Esports Centre.

There is an added incentive which has caused controversy in South Korea — winning gold will exempt them from having to do military service.

A feature of the Asian Games is that it includes sports that are a little more quirky than the Olympics.

Xiangqi — also known as “Chinese chess” — the card game bridge and the ancient wrestling discipline of kurash are all on the menu.

Although the Games officially open on Saturday, the sporting action began on Tuesday, when North Korea returned to major international competition for the first time since the pandemic with a 2-0 win over Taiwan in men’s football.

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Gay Games Hong Kong (GGHK) must be conducted in a “lawful, safe and orderly manner” whether or not events are held in public or private venues, the government has warned.

In response to media enquiries on Thursday, a government spokesperson said licences and permits may be required and government departments must process applications for the use of public venues and spaces in “strict accordance with existing procedures and criteria.”

“The organiser must comply with Hong Kong laws and regulations, regardless of where the events are held, including private venues, government venues or public spaces,” the statement read. “Many of its events will be held in private venues. The Government has reminded the organiser to observe the laws and regulations in Hong Kong, regardless of whether the events are held in private venues or not.”

It is unclear what prompted the warning. HKFP has reached out to GGHK for comment.

The press release came a day after GGHK said it had secured government-operated Queen Elizabeth Stadium for its opening and closing ceremonies, concerts and martial arts and dodgeball contests.

Other confirmed venues include: MacPherson Stadium, Jockey Club HKCFA Football Training Centre, HKC Dragon Boat Association Training Centre, Sha Tin Rowing Centre, HKU Stanley Ho Sports Centre, Victoria Recreation Club, KGV School, Kowloon Junior School and SoHo House.
AIA Vitality Park will host the festival village.

In response to HKFP’s enquiries, a Gay Games spokesperson said they had “no idea” why the government statement was issued: “We issued a press release providing a GGHK update on Wednesday 23 August, so perhaps they received media enquiries about that.”

They added that they did not interpret the statement as a warning: “As we have said all along, as any responsible organisation and event organiser would do, we will of course comply with all laws in Hong Kong. We have no problem with that at all. Our overriding goal is to deliver a safe, welcoming, joyous, diverse and inclusive event that will reflect positively on Hong Kong. Hong Kong is consistently rated as one of the world’s safest cities. We see no reason why this would change before, during or after our event.”

The Gay Games aims to promote diversity, and is open to all athletes.

Embattled games

The games have has been hampered by a lack of government support, internal wranglings and the Covid-19 pandemic. Earlier this year, three sports were axed due to low sign-ups. GGHK also expressed disappointment over the Hong Kong Football Club’s decision to withdraw its venue for the football finals, and has seen only 2,000 athletes sign up – 10,000 below the expected figure.

Hong Kong emerged as the chosen host for the 2022 Gay Games in 2017, prevailing over competing bids from Washington DC and Guadalajara, Mexico. It marked the first time in the 40-year history of the games that the event would be hosted by an Asian city. Then-leader, Carrie Lam said at the time only that she had “noted” the win.

In 2021, the competition was postponed to this year owing to the pandemic.

In 2022, organisers announced that the Games would be co-hosted by Hong Kong and Guadalajara. The Mexican city received sponsorship from the authorities and local tourism bureau. When Paris hosted the Gay Games in 2018, the French president, the mayor of Paris, and the local tourism bureau contributed financially. However, GGHK has not received any sponsorship from the Hong Kong government.

Since the games were announced, pro-establishment parties and anti-LGBT groups have been on the attack. Junius Ho, a pro-Beijing lawmaker, claimed during a Legislative Council meeting in June 2021 that Hong Kong did not want the event’s “dirty money”, adding that he was worried it might lead to the legalisation of same-sex marriage. This year, he claimed the games were a national security risk.

In June 2023, representatives from several groups staged a demonstration outside government headquarters, holding up banners that referred to the Gay Games as “indecent” and “obscene.”

Lawmakers Regina Ip and Adrian Ho from the pro-Beijing New People Party are among the few legislative members who have expressed support for Hong Kong’s hosting of the games.

Whilst same-sex sexual activity was legalised in 1991, Hong Kong has no laws to protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination in employment, the provision of goods and services, or from hate speech. Equal marriage remains illegal, although a 2023 survey showed that 60 per cent of Hongkongers support it.

Despite repeated government appeals, courts have granted those who married – or who entered civil partnerships – abroad some recognition in terms of tax, spousal visas and public housing.

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Around 2,000 athletes are expected to participate in the upcoming 2023 Gay Games, according to the organisers of the international LGBT-friendly sporting event. However, the updated number of participants is significantly lower than the original estimation of 12,000.

Lisa Lam, co-chair of Gay Games Hong Kong (GGHK), told local media during a luncheon on Wednesday that 2,000 participants from 40 countries will join the Gay Games set to take place in 3 to 11 November, including corporate teams.

“The registration number is good for now. We will keep up the momentum,” Lam said in Chinese.

The athletes mainly come from Asian cities and western countries such as the UK, France and Germany. Registration for the event, which aims to promote diversity, will close in mid-October. Organisers also hope to recruit 2,000 volunteers.

In 2021, GGHK estimated that over 12,000 people from around the world would take part in the competition, bringing HK$1 billion worth of revenue to the city, along with 3,000 volunteers and an audience of 75,000.

In a press release on Wednesday, GGHK said it was “offering fee waivers for younger people below the age of 25, as well as migrant workers, domestic helpers, and minorities, on a first-come-first-served basis.”

It also introduced the design of the bronze, silver and gold models.

Embattled games

The event has been hampered by a lack of government cooperation, internal strife and the Covid-19 pandemic. Earlier this year, three sports were axed due to a low number of sign-ups. GGHK also expressed disappointment over the Hong Kong Football Club’s decision to withdraw its venue for the football finals.

Hong Kong emerged as the chosen host for the 2022 Gay Games in 2017, prevailing over competing bids from Washington DC and Guadalajara, Mexico. It marks the first time in the 40-year history of the games that they have been handed to an Asian city.

The competition was postponed to this year owing to the pandemic, and – last year – organisers announced that the Games will be co-hosted by Hong Kong and the Mexican city of Guadalajara.

Lam said that, unlike other sporting events, GGHK had not received any sponsorship from the Hong Kong government. She said that Guadalajara received sponsorship from the authorities and local tourism bureau. When Paris hosted the Gay Games in 2018, the French president, the mayor of Paris, and the local tourism bureau contributed financially.

But there are social and cultural differences, and it is difficult to make comparisons, Lam added.

Whilst same-sex sexual activity was legalised in 1991, Hong Kong has no laws to protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination in employment, the provision of goods and services, or from hate speech. Equal marriage remains illegal, although a 2023 survey showed that 60 per cent of Hongkongers support it. Despite repeated government appeals, courts have granted those who married – or who entered civil partnerships – abroad some recognition in terms of tax, spousal visas and public housing.

Attacks from pro-establishment camp

Since the games were announced, pro-establishment parties and anti-LGBT groups have been on the attack.

Junius Ho, a pro-Beijing lawmaker, claimed during a Legislative Council meeting in June 2021 that Hong Kong did not want the event’s “dirty money”, adding that he was worried it might lead to the legalisation of same-sex marriage.

Pro-establishment lawmaker Priscilla Leung claimed at the same meeting that the GGHK might “divide society” and cast doubt on whether the government would impart the same efforts to promote heterosexual monogamy.

In June 2023, representatives from several groups staged a demonstration outside government headquarters, holding up banners that referred to the Gay Games as “indecent” and “obscene.”

Lawmakers Regina Ip and Adrian Ho from the pro-Beijing New People Party are among the few legislative members who have expressed support for Hong Kong’s hosting of the Gay Games.

The local authorities have not provided any special provisions or welcomed the games. At the time of the city’s successful bid in 2017, then-chief executive Carrie Lam said only that she “noted” the news, as she made reference to the “same sex games.” Statutory bodies such as the tourism board, InvestHK and the Equal Opportunities Commission have, however, given their backing.

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The Hong Kong Golf Club has been given the green light to host a Saudi-backed golf tournament at Fanling golf course, a month after the government takes back a 32-hectare section of the course for public housing and recreational use.

Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung said the plot would be handed over to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department for “conservation and passive recreational facilities” available to residents.

But the government will lend the 32 hectares back to the golf club from mid-September to mid-November so it can stage October’s Aramco Team Series championship.

“The government’s measures have all along been meant to support large-scale sporting events. The [LCSD] will lease the course to the club on a short-term basis for the tournament based on the actual situation, from mid-September to mid-November,” Yeung told a press conference on Thursday.

After the tournament, the LCSD will conduct maintenance work and gradually open the site to the public in December.

Populism

On the same day, Senior Counsel Ronny Tong, one of the Executive Councillors who are members of the Club, wrote in a Ming Pao op-ed that the previous administration’s decision to take back the plot was a concession to “populist thinking.”

Asked if resuming the course was indeed a “populist” move, Yeung said land use policies must “strike a balance between the different needs and interests of society.”

The Environmental Protection Department in May gave conditional approval to a plan to build subsidised housing for 33,600 residents on a nine-hectare plot at Fanling course — part of the 32-hectare plot slated to be taken over by the government on September 1 after the golf club’s private recreational lease expires.

Vicky Jones, director of the Aramco championship, last month threatened to pull the competition out of Hong Kong “if the government presses on with the public housing plan.”

Jones told a Town Planning Board meeting the Fanling course was the only venue in the city suitable for the event.

The golf club also hopes to host one leg of the Saudi-backed LIV tournament next year.

Chief Executive John Lee has said the government’s move to take back the plot would not affect the venue’s suitability for hosting large-scale tournaments on the course, which currently covers a total area of 172 hectares.

‘No consideration of prestige’

Separately, Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn told the Legislative Council on Thursday the government would not handle the golf course issue “based on considerations of social class or prestige,” adding that authorities would only “seek truth from facts.”

“The previous administration’s intention was simply to take back 32 hectares of the course,” Linn said, reiterating former chief executive Carrie Lam’s plan. “The plan to build public housing on the northernmost tip of that plot will have to be studied further.”

She added that more than 20 hectares of public land left over from any housing would be accessible to residents.

The development chief’s remarks came just a month after she said the government “might not be able to [build 12,000 flats],” following the redesignation of the proposed land use of the nine-hectare plot from “residential” to “undetermined.”

The Planning Department will have to formulate a draft plan by the statutory deadline of end-November, after which the Town Planning Board will discuss the plan and start a 12-month review process.

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I have to thank local golf enthusiasts for providing a great deal of innocent amusement for those of us who have no strong feelings about the game, and perhaps subscribe to the observation – first recorded in 1910 and often misattributed in a crisper version to Mark Twain — “to play golf is to spoil an otherwise enjoyable walk.”

We get it. To have a golf course to play on if you like golf is nice. To have three courses to play on is even better. And to see one of them defiled by the construction of a public housing estate is distressing. Quite apart from the loss of eight holes, there is the prospect of playing a rich man’s game under the windows of thousands of publicly housed paupers. Might someone laugh at your scuffed shots?

Still the creativity displayed at recent hearings on the government’s plan to use part of a golf course for housing speaks of desperation.

Let us start with the owl. This owl, needless to say a rare and threatened species, could apparently be found roosting in one of the trees which is likely to be removed when the golf holes go.

This is not a convincing argument at all. A golf course is not a nature reserve. Those strips of woodland are not provided as a refuge for homeless hooters; they are just there to keep the golfers far enough apart to reduce accidents.

Meanwhile the creation of the course itself requires the construction of a wholly artificial landscape. Large quantities of fertiliser encourage the grass; generous dollops of weedkiller discourage its competition. Wild animals which might threaten the grass (e.g. pigs) or the golfers (e.g. pythons) are vigorously discouraged.

A golf course, in short, has all the disadvantages of a zoo and none of the compensating advantages.

Then we come to the question of whether the truncated (two-and-a-half courses) remains of the facility will still be enough for the purposes of entertaining visiting events, one or two of which, we were told, could give Hong Kong a “big boost”.

As a piece of geometry this does not add up. It is a characteristic of international golf contests that all the participants play on the same 18 holes. That leaves the space occupied by the remaining 28 holes in which organisers could surely fit the usual infrastructure of tents, car parks, television towers and what have you.

As a piece of economics it does not make sense either. It appears that just as no millionaire fraudster fails to find a lawyer who can explain his innocence, no international spasm of sport fails to find an economist who will predict a “big boost” for the staging country or territory.

These claims have lately been subjected to careful examination and been found to be wholly fictitious. Even big sport circuses like the Olympics or the World Cup finals do not move the needle in a substantial economy and putting them on absorbs a large amount of money paid in advance, little of which comes back.

Foreign spectators at events of this kind come in three categories. There are those who were already in the country, resident or visiting, and took in the sport as an added attraction. Then there are those who were planning a visit, for business or pleasure, and changed their schedule to include the sport as well. The third, smallest category, comprises those who actually make a special trip.

Analysis of the audience routinely finds that most of them are locals. If they had not stumped up for tickets, hot dogs, jugs of Carlsberg, etc., they would have spent similar amounts on other entertainments on offer locally.

It may be that the “big boost” on offer is reputational rather than economic. Hong Kong has had some rough press lately, particularly (by coincidence) in some countries where golf is a major participant sport.

Unfortunately these are places where the ability to assemble a cast of young millionaires and watch them fight over a large pile of Saudi money is not going to do a great deal for our reputation. It’s a better story than the current efforts to encourage and recruit international bounty hunters, but that’s a low bar.

The most cherishable argument against desecrating our palace of golf came from a local resident, who reported that he had resorted to his nearest temple, and there cast the fortune-telling sticks which are a common facility in such places. The sticks had warned that Hong Kong would face a catastrophic future if the threatened holes were replaced by public housing.

Now I have an open mind on this sort of stuff. It is not the Hymns Ancient and Modern or Book of Common Prayer kind of thing which featured in my youth. Still, every New Year I am down at our local temple, putting the permitted three joss sticks in a sandbox in front of a multi-story gold-plated God. I spin the windmill, beat the drum, make a contribution to the temple expenses and buy a small lucky charm which we hang inside the front door.

There is more to life than science, logic and “common sense.” I do not claim to know what that “more” might be but we all have our own ways of acknowledging that it is there.

So, I am happy to respect the views of those people who suppose that the fortune sticks, or the various other things used for this purpose – trained birds, tossed coins, crystal balls – may give some indication of the road ahead.

I am, however, very dubious about the utility of this sort of thing for the makers of detailed town planning decisions. A prudent fortune-telling stick may express a general view on the desirability of golf courses, but a prediction of dire effects for the territory as a whole if the golf club is pruned… strains credulity.

And what, one wonders, is the Town Planning Board to do if some rival prophet, anxious to help the public housing programme, tells it that a precisely opposite message emerged from his close examination of the entrails of slaughtered chickens?

In the end this is no laughing matter. I sympathise with those golf club members asking “Why us?” when other possibilities are being neglected. The People’s Liberation Army’s ample land-holdings are untouchable because of politics, the Jockey Club’s because it shares its proceeds with the government on a large scale. Too late now for a lucrative sideline in golf gambling.

Still, unaccustomed as I am to agreeing with our lovely leaders, Hong Kong has thousands of golfers, and hundreds of thousands of people in horror housing. Business must come before pleasure.

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Hong Kong’s famous Dragon Boat Festival drew thousands of spectators on Thursday, reviving the tradition after the city’s coronavirus restrictions forced reduced celebrations, postponements and crowd bans.

“During the pandemic, I watched the races on TV, but of course it’s more fun to be here,” Cheuk Shum, 43, told AFP. “The event is experienced differently on a screen, you don’t feel the atmosphere.”

HKFP Lens: Thousands flock to see return of Hong Kong’s Dragon Boat Festival races

The Hong Konger said he attended the festival, also known as Tuen Ng in Cantonese, for eight years before the city imposed some of the world’s harshest measures to stop the spread of Covid.

This year, the crowds were able to return to the sands of the main beach in Stanley — an upmarket seafront neighbourhood — after anti-virus measures were completely lifted in March.

“The festival has never ceased to exist, even during the Covid years,” Jack Lam, a volunteer organiser for more than ten years, told AFP.

“We’d kept the event on a much smaller scale, but it wasn’t the same atmosphere,” he said.

Despite the muggy weather and a temperature of over 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), people began arriving at 8:00 am, hours before the official start of the race, which was first held in 1976.

Under the scorching sun, 174 rowing teams competed aboard long boats topped by brightly coloured dragon heads.

‘Sorely missed’

Some teams in this year’s festival were taking part for the first time.

“This type of event and Hong Kong’s cultural life were sorely missed during the pandemic,” said Christian Wertheimer, a Brit who arrived in Hong Kong in 2018.

“At the time, I was on a trip to Japan during the festival, and afterwards… Covid, Covid, Covid”, he said.

Celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, the Dragon Boat Festival is a centuries-old Chinese tradition that was classified by UNESCO in 2009 as intangible cultural heritage.

The holiday, observed in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, is by local lore a commemoration of Qu Yuan, a Chinese poet of the Warring States period who is said to have drowned himself in a river after being falsely accused of treason.

“On hearing of his death, villagers reportedly rushed into the water and rowed out in search of his body, to no avail,” Lam, the volunteer, said.

“They then prepared ‘zongzi’ (balls of sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves) to keep the fish away from his remains, and threw them into the river”.

Today, eating and sharing the dish remains a notable part of the celebrations.

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Around 1,600 people signed up to race during Hong Kong’s Dragon Boat Festival – or Tuen Ng Festival – on Thursday.

Crowds gathered in Stanley to watch over 56 teams brave the heat, after a three-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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The Legislative Council has passed a bill ordering the Hong Kong Jockey Club to pay an extra HK$12 billion in tax on its football betting earnings over the next five years to swell government coffers, despite earlier objections from the club.

Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui said in a statement the club would not reduce its commitment to local charities as a result of the new levy of HK$2.4 billion a year.

“In proposing to levy the SFBD (Special Football Betting Duty), we have taken into consideration a number of factors, including the affordability of the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC)… and the external competition faced by the local football betting business.”

According to an earlier statement from the club, the HKJC Charities Trust donated HK$6.6 billion in 2021-22, HK1.4 billion of which was designated for pandemic control. The club has a monopoly on betting in the city, with the proceeds going to charity.

“Due consideration”

The proposal for the new tax was introduced into the legislature this February as Financial Secretary Paul Chan delivered his Budget for 2023-24. He said the government had given “due consideration” to the competition faced by the club.

Shortly after Chan’s budget address, the club urged authorities not to impose any increases in betting duty, saying its horse-racing duty rates were already among the “highest in the world,” at 72 to 75 per cent.

It said the move would create “structural problems irreversibly damaging the Club’s successful integrated business model and continued competitiveness,” while benefiting illegal betting operators.

Limited options

The head of the New People’s Party Regina Ip said HK$2.4 billion was “nothing” in comparison to the Jockey Club’s investment return of HK$10.9 billion in the 2020-21 fiscal year. There were not many areas where the government could raise taxes, she told the Legislative Council on Wednesday.

Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, chairman of the Liberal Party — himself an honorary voting member of the Jockey Club — said other sports, including basketball, could also be subject to betting duty.

Vincent Cheng of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong said the move was considered due to “exceptional circumstances,” and acknowledged the club’s charitable contributions and its role in promoting sports and culture.

HKFP has contacted the Jockey Club for comment.

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International golf tournaments will not be affected by a government plan to take back 32 hectares of the Fanling golf course for a public housing project, Hong Kong leader John Lee has said.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the Executive Council meeting on Tuesday, Lee said the government would aim to resume the 32-hectare plot in September, after the Hong Kong Golf Club’s private recreational lease expires. He said that the housing plan was going through procedures necessary for its approval, but did not say whether the government would press ahead with the planned public housing development.

“No matter what the decision is, our plan at the moment is to resume the 32-hectare plot in September,” he said, adding that the Town Planning Board (TPB) will take into account different opinions and make recommendations for the government’s consideration.

Tournaments to pull out?

Lee’s comments came after Vicky Jones, director of the Aramco Team Series championship, threatened to pull the competition out of Hong Kong and move to a different city “if the government presses on with the public housing plan.” The championship is scheduled to take place at the Fanling course in October.

Representing the golf club, the director of the Saudi Arabia-backed women’s golf tournament said at a TPB meeting on Monday that the Fanling course was the only venue in the city suitable for the event.

Lee on Tuesday said the government’s move to take back the plot would not affect the venue’s suitability for hosting large-scale golf tournaments, and that parts of the 32-hectare plot could be opened to the tournament organisers for reception and promotion purposes, or as a parking lot.

Course still suitable for tournaments

While Lee said the Fanling course would still be home to two 18-hole courses and a 10-hole course after the plot is resumed, he did not say whether the government would commit to the public housing plan.

The 32-hectare plot slated for resumption is located on one of the three courses on the Fanling site called the Old Course. The resumption of the plot will leave the Old Course with 10 holes, down from the full-sized 18.

Development chief Bernadette Linn said last week that the government “[had] not given up” on the development plan, but added that it might not be able to meet its goal of building 12,000 public housing flats on the Fanling course.

The Environmental Protection Department last month gave conditional approval to the plan to build subsidised housing for 33,600 residents on a nine-hectare plot of the Fanling course — part of a larger 32-hectare plot slated to be resumed by the government on September 1. The Civil Engineering and Development Department’s (CEDD) plan has a 2029 completion date.

Also in May, Director of Environmental Protection Samuel Chui told the CEDD in a letter of the need to revise the housing development layout to preserve 0.39 hectares of woodland and minimise the impact on tree preservation “as far as practicable.”

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Organisers of the upcoming Gay Games in Hong Kong have axed three sports from the international sport and cultural event due to a low number of sign-ups. They also expressed disappointment over the Hong Kong Football Club’s decision to withdraw its venue for the football finals.

There will not be competitions in track and field, field hockey and Rugby 7s after registrations were halted, organisers told HKFP on Friday. The multisport event for the LGBTQ community and its allies is set to be held from November 3 to 11.

The decision came after the organising team in Hong Kong said they had held recent “in-depth discussions” with the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) concerning the preparation progress of the tournament. They took into account the number of registrations to date, the trend of registrations, the likelihood of an uptick in registrations and the cost of staging the event before deciding to scrap the three sports, a spokesperson said.

“These are hard but necessary discussions that need to be had to ensure that the Games can go ahead and that we are accountable for the funding we have raised to stage the Games. The FGG is fully supportive of this approach,” the organisers said.

Those who had signed up to the cancelled events would receive a full refund if they decided not to come to the city. Organisers said they were still hoping to include exhibition games for field hockey and Rugby 7s, which would involve a stand-alone competition organised locally to support the Gay Games.

The organising team of Gay Games Hong Kong also confirmed with HKFP on Friday that the Hong Kong Football Club informed them on Wednesday that it would no longer provide a venue for the football finals.

“We are of course disappointed that we are unable to use the Hong Kong Football Club venue,” a spokesman said, adding the football tournaments, include the final matches, would be held at the Jockey Club HKFA Training Centre in Tseung Kwan O.

HKFP has reached out to the Hong Kong Football Club for comment.

‘Experience session’

According to the event website, there are 18 sports remaining which are open for registration for anyone aged 18 or above regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity. They included badminton, dodgeball, fencing, swimming, trail running and others.

Sailing is also listed as one of the sports to be featured at the Games in November, but the organisers told HKFP that it would be an experience session rather than a competition and therefore would not take any public registrations.

Last month, the organisers said that sign-ups were more than 90 per cent below target. Hong Kong ‘s Covid-19 rules had previously hampered publicity efforts, they said.

In February 2022, Hong Kong Gay Games founder and leader Dennis Philipse announced he was stepping down, citing “continuing uncertainty” over the city’s international travel regulations during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hong Kong was initially meant to be the sole host of the Games, which were postponed for a year due to the pandemic. The organisers announced last year that Hong Kong and Guadalajara would co-host the event to allow more participants to take part should Hong Kong’s Covid-19 restrictions remain.

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Hong Kong sports teams are now required to boycott medal ceremonies at international competitions if the organiser refuses to let the team leader verify the Chinese national anthem or regional flags on site, according to amended guidelines issued by the top sports federation representing Hong Kong at the Olympics.

The move came after the 2019 protest song Glory to Hong Kong was played instead of China’s March of the Volunteers at several international sporting ceremonies attend by Hong Kong athletes.

In a statement published on Tuesday, the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China (SF&OC) said that the new guidelines will come to effect on Thursday. There was also a briefing session conducted by SF&OC on Tuesday attended by over 230 representatives of the member associations.

In the amended guidelines, the SF&OC said:” The local event organisers had downloaded the wrong song through Google search or YouTube which placed the wrong song as the top search result. Google and YouTube are hence proven to be totally unreliable in the search for the correct National Anthem of Hong Kong, China Teams.”

The government only launched an English-language web page with anthem details in April, months after the anthem row erupted.

According to the updated guidelines, the member sports associations – also known as National Sports Associations (NSAs) – will now have to collect an anthem toolkit from SF&OC every time before setting off for international sports events. The SF&OC will provide two regional flags, two hard copies of the anthem – either computer disks or a USB drive – as well as an acknowledgement receipt for the organisers to sign.

Aside from the hard copies, before departure, the associations will have to provide the event organiser with the official web link to the national anthem’s recording, as well as the correct specifications of the regional flag.

The team leader will be responsible for bringing along the toolkit, then must pass one hard copy of the anthem and one regional flag to the organiser, who will have to sign the confirmation form.

Before the playing of the national anthem, or raising of the regional flag, the team leader will have to check to ensure the correct version will be used. If the organiser refuses to let the team leader check the national anthem and the regional flag, the team leader must not allow team members to attend the sports event or awards presentation ceremonies.

The SF&OC will provide a checklist on the actions required to be carried out by NSAs.

If an incorrect song is played, an incorrect flag is raised, or if the regional flag is not raised properly, the team leader must lead the team members to use their hands to display a “time out” gesture in order to object and and call for a halt. The team leader will then lead the team to leave the ceremonial venue if there is no immediate correction.

After the incident, the team leader should report to the designated contact person of the SF&OC within two hours by phone and submit a brief written report for the next working day.

“For [cases of] non-compliance with the above guidelines, the [NSAs] concerned may be subject to sanction after taking into consideration the circumstances of each case,” the guidelines said. “Possible sanctions include suspension of membership by SF&OC and suspension of subvention or funding support from the government.”

Anthem mix-ups

Last November, the protest song was heard at a Rugby Sevens game in South Korea after an intern reportedly downloaded it off the internet.

Similar mix-ups occurred at international sporting finals, including at a prizegiving ceremony of a weightlifting championship in Dubai and most recently at a February ice hockey game in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The government has said Glory to Hong Kong is “closely associated with violent protests and the ‘independence’ movement in 2019.” Though the protests attracted a handful of pro-independence activists, it was not one of the movement’s demands.

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Around 20 public swimming pools may only partially open this summer, whilst around 500 licensed private pools will not open as scheduled this month, owing to a shortage of lifeguards, the Hong Kong Recreation and Sports Professionals General Union (HKRSPGU) said at a Tuesday press conference.

There are 45 public swimming pools and 1,371 licensed private pools in Hong Kong, according to the union. The HKRSPGU said that 20 pools had contacted swimming training institutions to warn that some of their facilities will not open for public use this summer.

In response to HKFP’s enquiries, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) said that 24 public swimming pools had fully reopened and 17 had partially reopened, but it did not comment on the situation during the looming summer season. It said that they had introduced different measures to tackle the lifeguard shortage, including increasing the salary of seasonal lifeguards and recruiting lifeguards on two-year contracts.

“In recent years, the number of swimming pools in private development projects, hotels, and theme parks has continued to increase, leading to a growing demand for lifeguards in the market. In addition, public swimming pools and beaches were temporarily closed for a long period of time due to the impact of the pandemic, resulting in the suspension of drowning rescue training,  courses and exams, which seriously affected the supply of qualified lifeguards,” the spokesperson said.

Expired qualifications

John Yiu, the vice-president of the HK Professional Swimming Instructors and Trainers General Union said during the press briefing that “during the three years of the pandemic, many [lifeguards’] life-saving qualifications expired… there was no swimming pool partially open for the lifeguards to do their exams.”

Yiu added that many lifeguards left the industry during the Covid-19 pool closures: “When [they] changed their careers and found a job that can sustain their living, are there any incentives for them to go back?”

According to a paper submitted by the LCSD to the legislature, the LCSD needs to employ more than 600 seasonal lifeguards between April and May. As of May 1, there were 240 lifeguards reporting for duty, including full-time seasonal lifeguards and contracted full-year lifeguards.

“There has been a consistent decrease in both the number of applications received for seasonal lifeguards and the number of people employed,” the LCSD said.

A.I. system

To tackle the manpower shortage, the HKRSPGU suggested that the government could provide free life-saving courses to encourage recruitment.

“There should be a long-term plan, to ensure the professionalisation of the lifeguard industry,” Yiu said. He added that the LCSD could provide on-the-job training including water quality control and activity management. Lifeguards could be provided with a path to become managers of swimming centres, he said.

In response to the lifeguard shortage, LCSD chief Vincent Yiu told the legislature last Monday that they plan to test a new Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) drowning detection system at Kwun Tong Swimming Pool over the next few months. The system is designed to alert lifeguards and assess the possibility of drowning. The Hong Kong and Kowloon Lifeguards’ Union said on their Facebook page that the A.I. system would only work after accidents happen, and the lack of life-savers was being ignored by the government.

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Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, even when humans hoping to cross Hong Kong’s border with mainland China were subject to at least 21 days of quarantine, one group was able to travel into and out of the city with relative ease: racehorses. 

Last September, the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) – which holds a government-granted monopoly over the city’s betting and horse racing industries – announced a record breaking HK$290 billion turnover for 2022-23. “In a year in which Hong Kong was hard hit by the pandemic, the Club raced on,” it said, adding that – in turn – it returned “a record HK$33.6 billion to the community.”

In part, horses under the HKJC were able to race on in the city because they were able to continue to train in mainland China – largely thanks to the Equine Disease Division, a branch of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) that established bio-secure bubbles on either side of the border long before most of us were familiar with the concept. 

Equine Disease Free Zone

“The Equine Disease Division started in June 2017, and the main objective was to facilitate the movement of horses from Hong Kong to Conghua,” Patrick Lau, a senior veterinarian with AFCD who specialises in equine disease, told HKFP. 

About four hours’ drive by cross-border horse float from the city, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Conghua Racecourse was designed and built as the equestrian venue for the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, in mainland China, before being transformed into a supplemental stable and training ground for Hong Kong’s race horses. 

“Now, Conghua is what is called an Equine Disease Free Zone [EDFZ],” Lau said. 

These zones are established according to guidelines from the World Organisation for Animal Health. Contrary to their name, they are not completely free from disease – “that would be impossible,” as Lau said – but are free from specified multiple diseases. 

“We have 14 equine-specific diseases that we try to keep out,” Lau said. Among the conditions are equine influenza, equine infectious anaemia, and equine viral arteritis. “Since 2017, we have kept it at zero cases of these 14 [diseases] successfully,” he added. 

There are some 1,200 race horses in Hong Kong, all of which arrive in the city from overseas to participate in the sport. After undergoing a pre-export quarantine, the horses are whisked off to an HKJC quarantine facility in Sha Tin for a further 14 days’ isolation before being allowed to move between Hong Kong and Conghua – which is where Lau comes in.

He leads a team of four permanent staff – himself and three veterinary technicians – at the Equine Disease Division, although part-time staff are hired to help with horse inspections.  

“For each of the horses that travels to Conghua northbound, I’m responsible for checking them healthwise – that they’re fit for travel, they’ve got their vaccinations up to date, and their fever cases have been cleared of all those 14 diseases,” Lau said. 

Samples are taken and tested in a clean, clinical laboratory currently located in a combination house on the grounds of the Tai Lung Veterinary Laboratory, itself perched on the edge of Fanling Golf Course. 

“We are in the process of building up our capacity and scope with our laboratory,” Lau said, adding that he was looking forward to moving into the division’s permanent home in the Animal Management and Animal Welfare Building Complex currently under construction in Kai Tak. “I think we have the top two floors, so that’s exciting as well, but at the same time it means a lot of work,” he said of the move, which is expected to happen in 2024. 

Accredited through the Australian National Association of Testing Authorities, the Equine Disease Division is currently certified to test for seven of the 14 diseases. “Previously, a lot of the diseases had to be sent out to Britain, the States, for confirmation and testing, screening even,” Lau said. “Now, we can pretty much do a lot of the testing ourselves.” 

Bubble to bubble security

After the horses have been cleared for travel, Lau issues an animal health certificate. “And same vice versa, coming back to Hong Kong,” Lau said. 

“It’s pretty much bubble to bubble,” he added. With its high biosecurity – Lau and his team are required to shower and change to enter the EDFZ – “it literally looks like Jurassic Park.” 

Occasionally, Lau said, horses are withdrawn from travel. “It would be the odd occasion that they had a fever two days ago, it wasn’t recorded – more or less it’s a human error rather than really something has happened,” he said. 

Lau has, however, been on the front line of a major equine outbreak before. 

In his office, a framed newspaper cutting with the headline “Flu injection protects cup” shows a young Lau standing next to a bay horse brandishing a syringe. “That was me in 2007,” he said, “when Australia had a big outbreak of equine influenza.”

Because of strict border controls in place to stem the import of exotic pests and diseases into Australia, that was its first horse flu outbreak. To make matters worse, the horse population had never been exposed to the virus and, not being vaccinated, were fully susceptible. At its peak, 47,000 horses were infected in New South Wales. 

Lau, who was working as a private veterinarian in Australia at the time after graduating as a doctor of veterinary medicine from the University of Melbourne in 2005, mobilised to contain and stop the spread of the virus – helping with sampling, testing, and vaccinating. “We started vaccination, for me it was a milestone,” he said. 

Within six months, the disease was eradicated. 

This experience was fundamental for Lau’s future. “That’s why I’m now… developing this biosecurity and control,” he said. 

“You can’t say it’s OK to have outbreaks, but you’re prepared for them. That’s the whole thing I’m promoting as well. Like the whole thing with Covid-19… you take the experience and hopefully you learn.” 

Lau said his team was not too badly affected by the pandemic. “We were allowed to do a bit of shift work… we were set up in isolated labs, you had your lunch in shifts… it was teamwork and we worked around the policies and we managed,” he said. 

In a number of ways, the horses – that continued to travel across the border for training and back again for racing – were less affected than many in the city. 

“But the good thing was, explaining this bubble to bubble idea, I think people got it.”

Correction 22/5/2023: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the Equine Disease Division would move into its permanent home in the Animal Management and Animal Welfare Building Complex in Kai Tak in 2027, when in fact it should make the move in 2024. We regret the error.

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Hong Kong’s top sports federation has reprimanded, in writing, the city’s ice hockey body over a recent anthem mix-up at an international match. However, there will be no cuts to its funding or suspension of its membership.

The Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China (SF&OC) added that it would update guidelines and require that teams boycott medal ceremonies at international competitions until they are able to verify – in advance – that the correct anthem is to be used by organisers.

The anthem blunder in question occurred in February after the Hong Kong’s men’s ice hockey team beat Iran in a match in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Instead of China’s March of the Volunteers, a song popularised during the 2019 pro-democracy protests and unrest was played – Glory to Hong Kong.

Meeting the press after a board meeting on Thursday, SF&OC’s Honorary Secretary General Edgar Yang said they had decided to issue a “serious written reprimand” instead of a typical warning to the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association (HKIHA) over the mishap.

Yang said the ice hockey body “obviously did not follow” the SF&OC’s guidelines on anthem handling as their team leader did not provide the organiser of the February match with a hard copy of the correct anthem, or check the anthem on-the-spot before it was played.

“The punishment must reflect the seriousness of the anthem blunder, as well as the inadequacies in HKIHA’s method of handling it, and the insufficient significance it attached to the incident,” Yang said, adding that the reprimand would mean the anthem incident “had come to an end.”

When asked by reporters, Yang clarified that the SF&OC’s decision “had nothing to do” with any cuts to HKIHA’s funding or the suspension of its membership.

Last month, the sports federation warned that it could suspend the ice hockey body if it failed to provide a full explanation on the anthem saga.

Yang said on Thursday that he would not say that the SF&OC “let HKIHA off the hook.” He added that the main point for launching the membership suspension mechanism at that time was to allow them to collect more information during a probe.

Anthem checks before award ceremonies

Yang also told reporters that the SF&OC would “improve” its anthem guidelines by requesting that team leaders stop athletes from attending medal ceremonies at international sporting events until organisers agree to let them check the anthem and regional flag.

“This is so important,” he said, as the Hong Kong teams would not be able to control any “external influence.”

“We can only manage ourselves with [a] proactive attitude and actions to make sure that our national anthem or national flag [are] to be properly placed,” Yang said.

At the same time, Yang said the ice hockey body’s suggestions on how to improve its corporate governance earlier this month lacked detail on “core matters” such as the athlete selection mechanism, integrity management and membership system.

The HKIHA is required to make further submissions within two weeks, by May 31.

Speaking to the press on Thursday afternoon after a legislative meeting, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung said he supported the SF&OC’s decision.

The sports minister added that it was “completely reasonable and justifiable” for the sports federation to ask the HKIHA to work on its corporate governance.

SF&OC's written reprimand to the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association over anthem blunder by HKFP on Scribd

“It affects the long-term development of our different sports programmes, as well as the training and competition opportunities received by our athletes. Therefore their governance must be good,” Yeung said.

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It is hard to regulate “lower-tier” amateur football competitions, the city’s football association chair told RTHK on Wednesday, one day after news of a match fixing scandal emerged.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) announced at a Tuesday press conference that it had arrested 23 people suspected to be involved in match fixing in the Hong Kong First Division League (First Division) during the 2022-2023 season.

Among those arrested were one coach and 11 players, while the others were suspected of running an illegal gambling business. The anti-corruption agency alleged that one football team manipulated the result upon receiving bribes, and also illegally bet on their own matches.

“The situation is very worrying and heart-breaking,” Kate Cheuk, principle investigator of ICAC said. She said that the players and coach allegedly received bribes of up to HK$10,000 for each match and had deliberately lost games afterwards.

The ICAC said the team lost, or drew, 18 of the 26 matches of the season.

Team of 70 years history suspected

The team at the centre of the scandal is believed to be Happy Valley Athletic Association (HVAA), local media reported citing anonymous sources. Players and ex-players of the HVAA were seen walking out of ICAC premises on Tuesday night.

The football club has a history of over 70 years dating back to the 1950s. It was first established by Hongkongers in Taiwan, and topped the First Division six times. However, they were embroiled in bribery scandals in 2010 and 2014.

Pui Kwan-Kay, chair of the HVAA and the Football Association of Hong Kong, China, said that he felt saddened by the scandal and match fixing was “not ideal.” But he said he believed it “would not have much effect on the holistic development of Hong Kong football.”

“There are many teams and competitions who participate in the First, Second and Third Divisions – it is relatively hard to regulate,” he added.

First Division used to be the highest division until the launch of the Hong Kong Premier League in 2014.

Pui did not mention whether the team under investigation is HVAA.

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Sign-ups for the upcoming Gay Games in Hong Kong are currently more than 90 per cent below target, organisers have said, adding that the city’s Covid-19 rules had previously hampered publicity efforts.

However, a source familiar with the matter told HKFP that they believed leadership changes may also be impacting organisation efforts.

“The pandemic related travel restrictions for Hong Kong made it very difficult for us to plan our promotional activities, so we lost valuable time last year where we could not promote aggressively,” the organisers told HKFP.

They said they had achieved “close to 10 per cent” of their registration target for individual sign-ups, with tennis and dragon boat racing events seeing the most interest.

Gay Games participants can sign up as individuals or corporates. The organisation did not say how many corporate sign-ups they had seen. Registration to take part opened last October, according to the Gay Games Facebook page.

The games, which were postponed for a year due to Covid-19, will be co-hosted by Hong Kong and the Mexican city of Guadalajara from November 3 to 11 this year.

Hong Kong was initially meant to be the sole host of the event. However, the organisers announced last year that Hong Kong and Guadalajara would co-host the event to allow more participants to take part should Hong Kong’s Covid-19 restrictions remain.

The city maintained some of the world’s strictest Covid-19 rules for almost three years, with travellers having to quarantine in a hotel for up to three weeks when restrictions were at their most stringent.

The organisers said they did not have figures for the number of people who had signed up for the event in Guadalajara.

The nine-day-long Gay Games will include a range of sporting events, as well as art and cultural programmes such as concerts featuring local and international artists, exhibitions, and a festival village, according to its website.

“We began marketing registration in February after the Covid restrictions for Hong Kong were lifted, so we will host promotional activities in Hong Kong and globally over the next few months,” organisers said.

HKFP has reached out to the Gay Games for comment on what publicity efforts have already been undertaken, and what to expect in the lead up to the event.

According to the Gay Games’ Facebook page, organisers will hold a promotional booth at a fitness event at AsiaWorld-Expo this weekend.

First held in San Francisco in 1982, the Gay Games is a inclusive sporting event seeking to bring together athletes regardless of gender, age, ability, or physical challenge.

Prior to this year’s games, the event has been held in nine cities including New York City, Amsterdam and Paris. People who do not identify as part of the LGBTQ community are also welcome to join.

A source familiar with the matter said they believed that Covid-19 rules were not the only reason the event was struggling to attract participants. The person said there had been leadership changes, and that some in the new leadership team were not familiar with running a sporting event.

“They’ve never been to the Gay Games before, or equivalent events,” they said.

The organisers said they were “hopeful that the combined totals of Hong Kong and Guadalajara will exceed previous Gay Games,” as people are hungry to travel again” and that they expected to see registration numbers steadily increase.

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The Hong Kong government will ask the city’s top sporting committee to punish the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association (HKIHA) for failing to “thoroughly follow” national anthem guidelines which led to an anthem mix-up at a recent international match, the city’s sports minister has said.

The anthem mishap occurred on February 28 when the Hong Kong ice hockey team beat Iran at an international event in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The protest song Glory to Hong Kong was played in place of the Chinese national anthem March of the Volunteers after the match.

Meeting the press on Sunday before leaving for an event in mainland China’s Hainan province, the Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung said it was “an obvious fact” that the ice hockey body “did not thoroughly follow the guidelines and adopt sufficient measures to ensure the organiser played the correct national anthem.”

“They admitted this point in their submitted report,” Yeung added.

The HKIHA said in its submission last Thursday that their team leader’s anthem-verifying attempts “may not have been sufficient.”

But the report argued that the criticisms by the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China (SF&OC) over HKIHA’s “evasiveness” in communication and “failing” to present the national anthem in a dignified manner were “unjustified.”

Citing how the ice hockey body successfully prevented the host of a later match in Romania from playing the wrong anthem, Yeung told reporters on Sunday it proved that mix-ups could be prevented if guidelines were stuck to.

“We will request the SF&OC to issue an appropriate punishment over their failure to thoroughly comply with the guidelines,” the sports minister said, without suggesting what type of punishment was warranted.

“We have to cherish our special status which allows us to compete in international events under the name of ‘Hong Kong, China’, and fulfil our duty to ensure proper respect is shown towards the national anthem. This is the due responsibility of us, the SF&OC, as well as every sports association, coach, team leader and athlete,” Yeung added.

The sports minister also urged the SF&OC and HKIHA to work together and solve the problems that had been identified within the ice hockey body’s corporate governance.

Guidelines

The ice hockey anthem mishap was the fifth such incident to have occurred in recent months.

Last November, the SF&OC released new guidelines requiring each sporting association to carry two sets of government-approved anthems and regional flags when they compete overseas. The teams have been asked to obtain signed confirmation from event organisers that the correct song has been received.

The ice hockey body has been repeatedly criticised by the SF&OC for not addressing whether a hard copy of the national anthem was given to the organiser at Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In a statement released last Friday, Honorary Secretary General of HKIHA Annie Kwan said she had prepared a USB drive loaded with the national anthem.

However, she said she did not have the drive at hand when she first met the relevant person. When they met for the second time, a member of the event organiser’s staff said they already had a copy of the anthem and had not received Kwan’s copy.

‘Interrogation’

Yeung’s comment came after around two months of debate between the HKIHA and the SF&OC over whether the ice hockey body had committed any wrongdoings, and whether the top sports federation respected the city’s ice hockey players.

After submitting the final report on Thursday explaining what had happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the chairperson of HKIHA Kan Yeung-kit released a statement in the late hours of Friday saying he “can no longer remain silent” after seeing Edgar Yang of the SF&OC “continuously handle the incident with an attitude as if he is interrogating suspects with high pressure [tactics].”

Kan said their team leader Kwan would not have omitted any details when she was questioned by the SF&OC if the sports federation had not adopted “scare tactics used for suspect interrogations in the 1960s.”

“As the commandant of the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force, the Honorary Secretary General Yang [of SF&OC] should have known what details the person under investigation needed to provide,” Kan said. Yang should have proactively helped Kwan to recall the details when much about the incident was initially unknown or unclear, Kan added.

The HKIHA leader also said that during their meeting with the SF&OC, Yang had asked how many teams were in the line-up when Kan told them about the ice hockey team’s results in recent international matches.

“Generally speaking, when someone tells you they place second in a match, shouldn’t you congratulate them? Why would you ask: How many teams were there?” Kan said.

In addition, Kan said Yang and other representatives of the SF&OC had told them “how much trouble could a six-team line-up be? Let’s sit and drink beer” – which made Kan and other HKIHA members feel “very disrespected.”

‘False speeches’

On Saturday morning, the SF&OC fired back and said it strongly opposed and was unhappy with the HKIHA’s “false claims” in a statement.

“What the HKIHA said jumbled together the identity of SF&OC’s honorary secretary general with his role as the commandant of the auxiliary police, twisted enquiries into interrogations and created a negative image of the SF&OC. It was regrettable,” the Saturday statement read.

The sports federations added that Kan was the top decision-maker for his sporting association, but Kan had “never responded to SF&OC’s enquiries over the national anthem blunder, or explain the matter publicly, before March 23.”

The SF&OC had earlier denied that its members had made “disrespectful” remarks against athletes.

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IOC president Thomas Bach met Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing on Saturday, with the two men expressing their opposition to the “politicisation of sport,” according to official media.

“China will never stop spreading the Olympic spirit,” Li told the International Olympic Committee chief, according to comments reported by state television CCTV.

“We are willing to work with the IOC to oppose the politicisation of sport and make new and greater contributions to the Olympic movement,” he added.

Bach said the IOC was ready to defend the Olympic spirit and resist the politicisation of sport, according to CCTV, stating the IOC’s traditional position.

According to the Olympic Charter which calls for the political neutrality of the movement, “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”

Before the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, China had been criticised for its treatment of Uyghurs in the northwest Xinjiang region, which has been hit by attacks blamed on separatists and Islamists from the Muslim minority.

Beijing has imposed tight controls over the population there in the name of fighting extremism.

China has been accused for years of detaining more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslims in the region. Beijing has vehemently rejected the claims.

A few months before the Games, tennis player Peng Shuai, a former world doubles number one, had alleged in a social media post that a former Chinese vice-premier had forced her into sex during a relationship of several years, but has since denied she accused anyone of sexual assault.

The WTA, which oversees women’s tennis, then announced at the end of 2021 the suspension of its tournaments in China over concerns about the safety of Peng, who had not been seen outside China since making, and then withdrawing, her accusations.

China denounced the boycott as a “politicisation of sport”.

The ban was lifted last month.

Peng briefly appeared as a spectator at the Winter Games, where she met Bach.

The IOC president will travel to the eastern city of Hangzhou and Shanghai in the coming days, according to the Xinhua news agency.

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