Gymnastics and tennis on their way out of Hong Kong Sports Institute elite programme
- Both sports fail to meet requirements to retain their tier A status and face expulsion after Tokyo 2020 disappointment
- Gymnastics body asks for extension of review period with many events cancelled amid the pandemic
Shek Wai-hung’s dream of a third successive Asian Games gold medal has been dealt a blow as gymnastics faces the axe from the elite programme at the Hong Kong Sports Institute in the new financial year.
The 2022 Hangzhou Games in China has become Shek’s major target after his failure at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games this summer. Now the determined vaulter will face a tougher task as the sport may lose technical and financial support from the elite training centre at Fo Tan.
Despite Hong Kong’s great success at the Tokyo Olympics, two sports – gymnastics and tennis – have failed to meet the required standard to stay in the tier A programme and both face expulsion from the institute on April 1.
While gymnastics is just 0.25 of a point short of reaching the required benchmark of 10 points to keep its elite status, tennis failed to have any of its players qualify for the Tokyo Games – one of the criteria that a tier A sport needed to maintain top status.
Gymnastics tried to make up the shortfall at the world championships in Japan last month, hoping Shek could win a medal or one of Hong Kong’s three other representatives could reach an individual apparatus final but none of them were successful.
