New athletics coach has broad expertise

When Anthony Giorgi, the newly appointed head athletics coach at the Sports Institute, first coached a Hong Kong athlete 10 years ago, it was Tam Chi-kin, a breaststroker in swimming.

The Australian then worked as the senior strength and conditioning coach at the Queensland Academy of Sport before taking up his new role in athletics at the Sha Tin high-performance training complex this month.

"I have been working with a lot of athletes in different sports, and Chi-kin was one of them when he came down to Australia for a training stint," said Giorgi, who was at the Xtep Hong Kong League Round 2 in Wan Chai this past weekend. "I can see many young and good athletes with a lot of potential here in Hong Kong and hopefully my expertise can help them win on the world stage."

Although Giorgi does not come from a specific track-and-field coaching background, his vast experience in providing support services can help the sport in Hong Kong.

"I don't envisage a lot of day-to-day training with the athletes but I can provide them with specialist services in planning, monitoring and delivery of individualised training programmes," he said.

"I have been doing this with many top athletes in Australia including in athletics, which is a primary sport at the Queensland Academy of Sport."

Kwan Kee, chairman of the Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association, is confident the new head coach can help the city's athletes.