Hong Kong sports chief targets rugby test event at Kai Tak as next step in stadium plan
Commissioner for Sports George Tsoi wants 3,000 fans to roar on Hong Kong against Brazil at new venue on November 9
The city’s new commissioner for sports is confident the soon-to-be-finished Kai Tak Sports Park will be able to take another step forward when it hosts a rugby Test match between Hong Kong and Brazil next month.
George Tsoi Kin-pan said officials hoped to gain more experience on a “step-by-step” basis, with a series of test events planned, starting with a second-division football game between Sai Kung and Wong Tai Sin on Sunday at the 5,000-seat Youth Sports Ground, which sits alongside the main stadium.
Some 1,000 spectators, invited by the Football Association of Hong Kong China, and New World Development, who have built the new complex, are expected for this weekend’s game.
And Tsoi said officials wanted to have three times as many on November 16, with government officials expecting the state-of-the-art, HK$30 billion facility to be ready to host more spectators.
“There will be more spectators in those events to come in November,” said Tsoi, who replaced previous commissioner Sam Wong Tak-sum at the end of last month. “Currently, we expect to sit 3,000 in the stands [on November 9], but it depends on our first test event; we will review and adjust [after Sunday].”
With only three days to go until the first test event, the athletics track which runs around the pitch at the smaller ground has yet to be installed, but KTSP officials said it was expected to be completed in November.
