Asian teams get hands-on as HK hosts annual Gaelic Games

There were sliotars, hand passes, solos and hurley sticks galore at the King's Park sports ground yesterday as Hong Kong hosted the Asian Gaelic Games, an annual celebration of Irish sports that are spreading their influence far beyond Ireland's borders.

Players from 14 Asian countries, including India - making its first appearance - Qatar, Singapore, Dubai, and Japan will compete to be crowned the Asian Gaelic Champions in football and hurling today.

'It's gone really well. We have had 65 teams on five pitches, and 1,400 people through the gates. Over 700 players are playing in what is now the single largest amateur team event in Asia,' said Shane Harmon , chairman of the Hong Kong Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA).

'This is great for Hong Kong and it's proven especially popular with local Hong Kong Chinese. But look around the region - the Malaysian team are all from Malaysia, for example' said Harmon.

Gaelic football is in some ways similar to soccer, but use of the hands is allowed and it bears some resemblance to Australian Rules Football.

Hurling, meanwhile, is a form of field hockey in which the player can either hit the ball (or sliotar) with a hurley stick or pick it up and run with it. In both games, a point is scored when the ball goes over the bar and a goal is worth three points.

The game tends to be high-scoring and is fun to watch. It is also tremendous craic (an Irish term for fun) to play and because both the hands and the feet are used it's a great workout, which means the sport has been a big hit with women in particular.