Squash, set for 2028 Olympics, awaiting inclusion into next year’s National Games programme
Yeung Tak-keung says while it is ‘general practice’ to include all Olympic events, there are other factors the Games authorities must look at
Hong Kong’s National Games chief says he still awaiting confirmation from the General Administration of Sport of China on whether squash – among four other new Olympic sports for the 2028 Los Angeles Games – will be added to next year’s programme.
Yeung Tak-keung, the head of the city’s National Games coordination office, also acknowledged Hong Kong had signalled its intention to host the potential new events but admitted the authorities had many considerations even though it was “general practice” to include all Olympic events at the National multi-sport event.
“We had proposed [including squash] to the authorities since the International Olympic Committee announced the new events in October last year,” he said. “We also made clear we would be interested to host the extra events, not just squash, but perhaps lacrosse, too [if those events are to be added].
“But in terms of squash, China’s development is much slower than that of Hong Kong, so how many provinces could send a team? We couldn’t have only Hong Kong [being strong] and other teams not being competitive.”
Squash, baseball (and softball), cricket, flag football and lacrosse are the five new sports for the next Olympics and Yeung, speaking after attending the opening day of Hong Kong Squash Open at the Squash Centre in Admiralty, said things needed to be looked at in a “broader” context.
“It was never just about squash, too – there must be thorough considerations [by GASC] about all those new additions,” he said. “We had proposed and had brought it up in subsequent meetings.
