Hong Kong breakdancers cry for funding and recognition ahead of Paris 2024 Olympics - ‘we might win a world championship and nobody would know’

‘You could argue we’ve already lost the moment we step on to the international stage,’ says city’s No 1 women’s breakdancer Chan Ka-yi

Team leader Jessica Siu describes athletes’ struggles with full-time jobs, raising their own funds for international events and hopping between practice studios

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Hong Kong breakdancing team at the Hong Kong International Airport before competing at the WDSF world championships in Paris, France. Photo: Handout

Published: 9:00am, 14 Dec 2021

Hong Kong’s top breakdancers are pleading for more government resources and public recognition ahead of their campaign to reach the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Breaking, as the International Olympic Committee calls it, had its monumental place confirmed for the Paris Games last year. It will also debut at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou in September.

Though Team Hong Kong’s encouraging outing at this month’s WDSF World Breaking Championships proved they were “not that far off” in level, there is a still a chasm in funds and backing compared to fellow Asian qualifying hopefuls Japan and China.

The Hong Kong Dancesport Association (HKDSA) bankrolled flights, accommodation and quarantine arrangements this time around, but it is often up to individual athletes or crews to raise money for domestic and international competitions.

Hong Kong breakdancer Chan Ka-yi, also known as Bgirl Lady Little, in her Hong Kong Breaking Team qualifier-winning event in April. Photo: AKA.APEKAY

“Actually, you could argue we’ve already lost the moment we step on to the international stage. That’s how it feels,” said Hong Kong’s number one-ranked women’s breakdancer Chan Ka-yi, also known as Bgirl Lady Little.