‘We’re battlers’: Hong Kong’s national netball squad aim to dominate Asian Championships in Singapore
- Women’s netball squad return to regional competition after a three-year hiatus, with world championships inclusion up for grabs
- With netball courts repurposed for pandemic use, the national team turned to schools and outdoor courts to maintain their competitive edge
There’s a genuine sense of hunger that surrounds the Hong Kong national women’s netball squad.
As they put the finishing touches on preparations for next month’s Asian Netball Championships in Singapore, it’s easy to see why. After three years away from regional competition, the team is fired up and ready to return.
Their pathway back, however, has not been easy. As the pandemic kicked in, the bulk of their training facilities were repurposed as either vaccination hubs or testing centres and the team were forced to look elsewhere for training venues.
This meant scouring outdoor courts, school grounds and even basketball courts to train and keep the team together during what Krystle Edwards, president of Hong Kong Netball Association, said was a very challenging time.
“We’re battlers. That’s what the Hong Kong team is all about,” Edwards told the Post during a practice session at the Hong Kong Park Sports Centre.
“We’ve been playing the men’s team every second Friday and random mixed team games every other week just to get playing experience.
“All the other countries have been on training tours and playing each other. We’ve had to train outdoors, which is kind of unheard of at a national level. We’ve definitely struggled for court time.”
This persistence has paid off and the squad are now ready to launch themselves into a major opportunity that awaits in Singapore.
