Play to our strength
To win more Olympic medals in future, city needs to focus on sports that suit its residents, says top official
Hong Kong must make better use of its resources and focus on sports that suit the city's population if it wants to win medals at future Olympic Games, a senior official said yesterday.
Nonetheless, Pang Chung, honorary secretary general of the Hong Kong Olympic Committee, was delighted with the results in London.
"We did better than four years ago in Beijing," said Pang, referring to the bronze medal won by track cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze in London. Hong Kong did not win any medals in 2008. "We also saw some good results in table tennis, badminton and windsurfing," Pang added
"But Hong Kong is a small city and we need to make better use our resources if we want to challenge the best in the world. We have to think about the physique of our population and concentrate on events that suit us best. We should direct greater resources towards those events to improve our chances of winning medals."
Pang cited cycling as an example and praised the work done by coach Shen Jinkang. "He was the one who saw the potential we had in track cycling. He started with Wong Kam-po, who has done really well on the international stage [including a world championship title in the scratch race in 2007] and now he has coached Lee to an Olympic bronze medal.
"It is that kind of forward thinking and planning that we need more of."
With Shen reaching retirement age next year, Pang wants the Hong Kong Sports Institute to rethink its policy of forcing coaches to retire at 60. "I don't think it is the right time to let Shen go, especially with the challenges ahead for Lee," Pang said. "Lee still has a lot of potential for improvement and will be a serious gold medal contender in Rio de Janeiro [in 2016] . Shen still has a vital role to play in her development."
