Hong Kong Four Nations Netball: stage set for women’s and men’s tournaments, but could city host a World Cup at Kai Tak?
- The women’s Four Nations and the men’s Hong Kong Challenge Cup take place concurrently this week, with staging the World Cup a longer-term goal
- ‘The tournaments are free to watch and we want to engage a broader audience, with the hope of attracting corporate sponsors,’ city’s netball CEO says
Netball in Hong Kong will put questions over its plans for future growth aside this week when the city stages not one but two international events – one for women and one for men.
Facing challenges locally over venue availability and finance, the sport is focusing on the women’s Hong Kong Four Nations Netball Tournament and the men’s Hong Kong Challenge Cup, with both to held concurrently from Wednesday to Sunday at Kowloon Park.
Local bosses hope the first Four Nations tournament since 2019 could be a stepping stone to hosting bigger events, although Hong Kong will have to wait for its turn to stage a Netball World Cup, with the global governing body having already awarded Sydney the hosting rights for the next one in 2027.
The last edition, in Cape Town last year, reached a live television audience of 14.9 million, more than double that in Liverpool four years earlier.
“The next window for us is 2031, but the biennial Asian Championships is also our target,” Eva Lam, chief executive of the city’s netball association, said.
