Hong Kong squash stars Leo Au and Joey Chan quit – will team lose its grip as a regional power?
- Asian Games gold medallists announce their retirements as they start a new chapter in their life away from the sport
- Former head coach Tony Choi remains confident a new generation players will take up the baton and be ready for the next Games in 2022
Hong Kong squash has been rocked by two more retirements of key players with men’s Asian Games individual gold medallist Leo Au Chun-ming and women’s gold medal team member Joey Chan Ho-ling calling it quits in a move that will further loosen the city’s grip as a regional power.
Hong Kong clinched two gold and two silver medals at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta but there was anxiety among observers who felt three key retirements in three months could spell the end of Hong Kong’s dominance in Asia.
In March, Annie Au Wing-chi, Hong Kong’s highest-ever ranked player and the elder sister of Leo Au, hung up her racquet, ending a brilliant 15-year career that saw the 31-year-old win team gold in Jakarta. She was also ranked as high as six in the world, attained in May 2012.
Former squash head coach at the Sports Institute, Tony Choi Yuk-kwan, said the trio’s retirement would leave a huge void in the Hong Kong team but he remained upbeat of the future.
“These three players are now in their 30s and need to consider their future after sports,” said Choi, now the deputy chief executive at the training centre in Fo Tan. “It’s logical they have chosen to leave competitive squash if they felt they had better [career] opportunities.
