Top Hong Kong official Cowen Chiu But-kau believes the International Sailing Federation's (ISAF) general assembly in November will turn ugly after it emerged that Spain's representative at the vote to replace windsurfing with kiteboarding at the 2016 Olympics had gone against his federation's wishes.
The Royal Spanish Federation of Sailing issued a statement that their representative, Gerardo Seeliger, voted against its instructions to retain windsurfing. It has apologised to its windsurfers.
Chiu (pictured), president of the Windsurfing Association of Hong Kong, said yesterday: 'I think it will be ugly. There is going to be a big fight at the general assembly in Dublin this November, especially with a lot of countries opposing the move.
'It is too early to say if this controversial vote will be overturned, but I'm certain there will be plenty of opposition [at the meeting],' said Chiu, who will be going to Dublin, but in his capacity as head of the windsurfing association, to attend a committee meeting of his class.
Last week's contentious decision at the mid-year ISAF meeting in Italy has been widely unpopular and it is now understood that a number of representatives voted against the wishes of their federations to retain windsurfing.
The vote was 19-17 in favour of kiteboarding, and if Spain's representative had voted as told to, it would have been tied at 18-18, which would have meant windsurfing's status as an Olympic sport would have remained.