SNOOKER STARS UNITE IN FIGHT TO KEEP ELITE FUNDING STATUS
Marco Fu and Ng On-yee campaign for inclusion at 2026 Asian Games to remain in Tier A category
Hong Kong’s high-profile snooker professionals Marco Fu Ka-chun and Ng On-yee have joined forces to stop billiard sports from losing their Tier A elite status for subsidies at the Hong Kong Sports Institute next April.
A new social media campaign #CuesportsNagoya2026 aims to have their sport included in the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya and as a result halt a decision to demote their Tier A status.
Earlier this month, the Home Affairs Bureau’s Sports Commission told the Hong Kong Billiard Sports Control Council that cue sports – billiards and snooker – would be demoted to Tier B if they did not take part in, or expect to compete in, at least three Asian Games or Olympic Games between 2010 and 2030.
After featuring in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, billiard sports will return at Doha in 2030, but are not yet included in the 2026 edition in Japan. Cue sports will fall short of one Asian Games if they are not included.
Fu and Ng have been rallying their supporters on social media, promoting the campaign logo and asking fans to share.
“Please share if you support cue sports in Asia,” Fu wrote. The post has since received roughly 300 likes and 60 shares. In launching the campaign, the billiard council said their Tier A status was “hanging in the balance”.
“As for now, the list of sports of the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya has not been finalised, so billiard sports still has a chance,” a spokesman said. “So we ask you to share our #CuesportsNagoya2026, so that people will know the objective and the reason behind our campaign”. The campaign was launched in Chinese, English and Japanese.
Vincent Law Wing-chung, the chairman of the billiard council, said he was pleased with the encouraging comments received this week and added that stickers for athletes and supporters would be printed soon.
“We have created a logo hoping that more people will notice what we are doing. It will be a symbol of unity of the Hong Kong cue sports community,” said Law, adding “if this campaign can get off the ground, I believe it can make it into the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games”.
“We will seek assistance from the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong for this purpose, and we will also ask other cue sports associations in Asia to speak to their local Olympic committees.
Last week, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuetngor said she was alerted to a financial crisis for snooker when she received a text message from Fu, who has won three world ranking tournaments.
Billiards and snooker were part of the Asian Games four times in a row from 1998 to 2010, with Fu leading Hong Kong’s haul of four gold, three silver and three bronze medals.
Cue sports have been a Tier A sport with the institute since 2009. If downgraded to Tier B, they would lose 80 per cent of funding, which amounts to millions of dollars, and players would lose up to 60 per cent of training grants, as well as training and logistical support from the institute.
There are 39 funded players in cue sports, in elite and junior categories. Including Fu and Ng, 13 players receive elite monthly funding of HK$32,700 to HK$38,540.
Demotion to Tier B would roughly halve this.