HK asks for more time in selection for Asian Games
Naming of athletes delayed after shutdown of facilities hits preparation for Hangzhou event
It is time to name the athletes for the year’s biggest remaining sporting event on the Asian calendar, but Hong Kong is not ready.
With the city emerging slowly from a fifth wave of Covid-19, closures of facilities over the last three months have wreaked havoc with preparations for September’s Asian Games. Athletes have been left scrambling to be ready and selectors asking for more time before confirming who will travel to Hangzhou.
The Hong Kong Olympic Committee had previously asked sports associations to submit their list by the end of last month, before deciding to conduct the procedures this month as registration for athletes will close after the first week of next month by the Games organisers.
“We understand the difficulties faced by many sports when all the facilities were closed over the last three months and as a result they could not get the latest updates on their athletes,” Wong Po-kee, deputy secretary general of the committee, said.
“We now plan to conduct the process sometime in early May and have also requested the Hangzhou Games organising committee delay registration until the end of May.”
Wong dismissed speculation that the Games might need to be postponed because of an increasing number of Covid-19 infections on the mainland, especially in Shanghai, which is 160km from Hangzhou.
“As far as we understand, all preparation work for the Games is under progress and we have heard nothing from the organisers about any possible delay to the Games. We are still working on the same time frame,” Wong said.
He would not give a figure on the size of the delegation, only saying they had previously estimated they would take a team of more than 500 to the Games, set for September 10 to 25.
The Hong Kong government shut down all sports premises in early January as part of measures to contain the latest wave of the pandemic.
Facilities were allowed to reopen on April 7, but only for training and selection processes for the Asian Games, with the public finally allowed back in last week.
We understand the difficulties ... when all the facilities were closed
WONG PO-KEE, HK OLYMPIC COMMITTEE
While elite Tier-A sports at the Sports Institute were able to continue training at the Fo Tan complex in a closed-camp environment, many other sports had to stop programmes over the last few months, especially team sports that rely heavily on government facilities such as handball, basketball and football.
Other sports such as judo – of which Wong is the association’s chairman – were also affected.
“It takes a certain period of time before a judoka can raise his form and fitness level after such a long absence before we can make the selection,” Wong said.
“Although we know all our athletes well, we still have to see how far they respond from this period of no training before naming them for the Asian Games, which is the most important event of the year.”