Rugby hero Salom Yiu battles Covid-19 with his new disinfectant business venture
- The long-serving Hong Kong team member is preparing for life after sport but is still setting his sights on the Olympic and World Series qualifiers
- Yiu hopes his disinfectant products can help keep this year’s Hong Kong Sevens safe
Salom Yiu Kam-shing is used to blazing through his opponents’ defences as a key member of Hong Kong’s rugby sevens team, but now he’s blazing a different trail as an entrepreneur trying to help the city battle the pandemic.
Jakarta Asian Games gold medallist Yiu has gone beyond his call of duty as he tries to do his bit to help his fellow athletes keep safe from Covid-19. He hopes Hong Kong will catch on to his new disinfectant products in a city still reeling from the coronavirus even though the situation is better than it was a few months ago. But the fear of catching the virus has not gone away despite public sporting facilities and gyms now back in business.
Although he’s an athlete first and foremost, the 32-year-old says he’s trying his hand as an entrepreneur, hoping to keep the city safe from the deadly virus.
“I’m still involved in sport and I still have dreams as a sportsman but it’s also time to start preparing for life after sport,” said Yiu, who helped Hong Kong win the sport’s first Asian Games team gold medal in Jakarta two years ago.
“I always wanted to start my own business and I was also concerned that Hong Kong had been hard hit by Covid-19 over the last six months. Everyone is looking for disinfectant products for protection [against the virus] but there are not many anti-epidemic products in the market until recently and most of them are imported and are expensive.”
Salom Yiu with his disinfection robot at a fencing school in Kwun Tong.
Enter Yiu and his team. As a gold medal-winning athlete, Yiu understands what a sportsman would be going through as they try to keep safe from Covid-19 while using public or private sporting facilities.
“It so happened that I met members of a research team from the University of Manchester who shared the same passion as me to produce disinfectants. We decided to set up a Hong Kong-made antibacterial brand to help Hong Kong people.”
Yiu said his business started two weeks ago and he’s hoping his products will become known to more people through promotional activities on the internet.
“As an athlete myself, I know the needs of a sports person. We always worry about [hygiene] conditions at venues and equipment because once we are infected by the virus, it will definitely affect our careers in a bad way. What happened to the karate team was terrible,” he said of Hong Kong karate exponent Lee Chun-ho and other members of his team who caught the virus recently.
“Our disinfectant products can help a lot. We use silver ions technology to kill the virus and we are already in discussion with a number of sport teams to help them sterilise their facilities and equipment. Some of them are already our clients such as basketball and ice hockey.”
Hong Kong Sports Institute sprays disinfectant to protect against Covid-19
The rugby player says he has also approached the Hong Kong Rugby Union with his expertise, hoping the association would endorse his products for this year’s Sevens, scheduled in October.
“The Sevens is a mega event held in the 40,000-seat Hong Kong Stadium. The protection of players from Covid-19 is paramount as they come from many countries and there will be huge crowds at the event, which is pivotal to the success of the Sevens,” said Yiu. “As a member of the Hong Kong team, safety against the virus is important as rugby is a contact sport.
“We have approached the Union to see if we can offer our expertise in making the event safer.”
Despite his new business venture – he has invested a six-figure sum into his company – Yiu said he is keen to continue playing rugby.
Hong Kong Rugby Union takes stock after shock sevens loss to South Korea
“There are the World Series qualifiers and it’s also the last chance of making it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games,” he said. “Both are very important events, especially the Olympics which will come at the back of our success at the 2018 Asian Game. It’s the dream of every athlete to compete at the Olympics.
“I still train as hard as I used to in order to do my best for Hong Kong. I only conduct my business in my free time and therefore it doesn’t affect my training or competitions. I have been in the Hong Kong team for 10 years and it’s rational to think about life after sport. The disinfectant product is a great start as it can help the people of Hong Kong at this critical time.”
Yiu and his team paid a visit to a fencing school on Saturday to demonstrate the effectiveness of their products. One of the school owners, Alison Yu Chui-yee, who is also a member of the Hong Kong wheelchair fencing team, welcomed the team for helping the city keep safe.
“The [fencing] school stopped [for business] for more than a month from late March after the government ordered all fitness training centres closed,” said Yu. “Of course we suffered greatly as we had no income during this period. The health of the fencers and the venue were a great concern after we reopened. We are happy Salom [Yiu] and his team can help us sterilise the venue and our equipment so that we can train safely and have peace of mind.”
