Locals take a beating
THE territory's poor handball standard was fully exposed in the Hong Kong Super League when the four local teams were badly thrashed by foreign opposition in the preliminary rounds.
Chinese champions Beijing humbled Data Insurance and Akita in their two group matches, while the Taichung team from Taiwan demolished Sin Fung and local champions South China.
Beijing successfully retained the Super League crown and pocketed the $15,000 prize by crushing Taichung 29-21 in the final after leading 15-10 at half-time.
Akita pulled off a minor upset in the play-off for third position with a 21-19 victory over South China while Sin Fung defeated Data Insurance 29-22 to finish fifth.
The Hong Kong Amateur Handball Association chairman, Chan Tak-yau, announced they may scrape next year's tournament and instead channel their resources into youth programmes.
'We will not be hosting our international tournament at Easter and we may also drop the Super League,' Chan said.
'Instead, we are planning an international youth invitational championship for under-19 players in July. It should be a boost to our development programme and an incentive for the young players to get into the youth squad. Hosting the youth tournament would, in the long run, be more beneficial to handball in Hong Kong.'
