Hong Kong athletics chief not giving up on staging 2020 championships despite pandemic fears
- Officials will ask World Athletics for permission to hold the meet early next year, but government will have final say
- The annual showpiece provides important ranking points for athletes trying to book their tickets for next year’s Tokyo Olympics
Organisers of the 2020 Hong Kong Athletics Championships are not giving up hope of staging the annual showpiece early next year, even though the odds are heavily stacked against them with the pandemic still gripping the city.
The Hong Kong Association of Athletics Affiliates remains hopeful they will be given permission from the government to stage the event and provide a chance for athletes to gain more ranking points as they chase their tickets for next summer’s Tokyo Olympics.
HKAAA chairman Kwan Kee said the chance of staging the event in the current situation was unlikely given the seriousness of the fourth wave of the pandemic, but he said he would seek endorsement from the world governing body to stage it in early 2021.
“This is a very important event for our athletes, especially with Olympic qualification resuming,” said Kwan. “If we can’t run it, it means our athletes will have one less qualification opportunity [to qualify].
“We will take it [the case] to World Athletics to see if they will give us permission for postponing the event to early 2021 given the circumstances surrounding the pandemic. Of course, we still need support from the government to provide us the venue and allow us to go ahead.”
