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Hong Kong Covid-19 rulings leave athletes concerned – ‘no one will come here’

  • Top sports stars voice disappointment at cancellation of 10K running event and difficulties in arranging other races and competitions
  • After cycling’s governing body vetoes holding event in the city, Hong Kong’s leading cyclist says keeping quarantine will prolong the agony

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Sports Stars Awards winners (from left) Lau Chi-ming (karate), Wong Chun-ting (table tennis), Siobhan Haughey (swimming), Cheung Ka-long (fencing), Chu Man-kai (para-badminton), Sarah Lee Wai-sze (cycling), Doo Hoi-kem (table tennis) and Vivian Kong Man-wai (fencing). Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Leading athletes from Hong Kong have discussed the impact Covid-19 has had on their careers and expressed hope that it will become easier to stage top-class sport in the city.

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Winners from the recent Cathay 2021 Hong Kong Sports Stars Awards – including Olympic medallists in swimmer Siobhan Haughey, fencer Cheung Ka-long, table tennis player Doo Hoi-kem and cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze – were asked by the Post about how the pandemic had affected them.

They also talked about the struggle to organise major sporting events in Hong Kong.

The city has missed out on hosting major fencing and badminton events, there are question marks over November’s Hong Kong Marathon, and athletics’ 10K Championships were cancelled last month after the government imposed last-minute Covid-19 restrictions on participant numbers – which will also apply to swimming’s proposed Cross Harbour Race next month.
Sarah Lee said she was concerned about Hong Kong’s ability to stage events under current rules. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Sarah Lee said she was concerned about Hong Kong’s ability to stage events under current rules. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Lee said she feared that sporting federations would not allow events to return in the present circumstances.

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