World's best wait for territory at Pan-Pacs
HONG KONG will face their toughest test of the year as they take on some of the world's best swimmers at the Pan-Pacific Championships in Atlanta, today.
In a dress rehearsal for next year's Olympic Games at the same venue, the territory's seven-strong team will be hoping to continue the form which saw them reap a harvest of medals at the recent Pacific Ocean Games in Colombia.
Although medals will be harder to come by over the four days in Atlanta, the squad will be looking to score personal bests and gauge their standards relative to the rest of the world.
Robyn Lamsam, who won a clutch of gold medals in Colombia, has already begun her Olympic preparations and originally decided not to take part in Atlanta.
But she came to an agreement with her coaches which would allow her to miss one week of training.
She is joined by Katie Lau, Heidi Wong, Arthur Li, Mark Kwok, Tam Chi-kin and veteran sprinter Michael Wright, who is now based in South Africa.
The United States are favourites to win the majority of the medals, although world powers China have been barred from taking part.
Earlier this year, the Pan-Pacific organising committee decided to ban China from the meet because of the positive drug tests of Chinese swimmers taking part in last year's Asian Games in Hiroshima.
