18 teams line up for inline event

Twelve overseas teams challenge the best local sides in the annual YMCA of Hong Kong Invitational Inline Hockey Tournament which started last night at King's Park Centenary Centre (KPCC). Men's and women's teams from Singapore, Taiwan, the Philippines, South Korea and Australia are competing in the largest tournament of its kind in Asia today, tomorrow and Sunday.

The competition has expanded to 18 teams from six in the inaugural 2001 event and 12 last year.

Leading Canadian referees and coaches have been flown here especially for the event, thanks to Air Canada and Canada Inline.

Doug Cole, KPCC manager and tournament organiser, is delighted that the event is becoming more popular.

'We're excited at how this event has developed and we are sure it spells a bright future for the development of the game,' said Cole. 'It's guaranteed to be an action-packed weekend.'

Last year, 2001 champions the Hong Kong Dragons retained their title with a 7-6 golden-goal victory over Japanese side Tour Tornados.

Apart from the inline hockey action, the KPCC is opening up the tallest climbing wall in Hong Kong - for free.

Tomorrow, free professional instruction will be provided for first-timers who are keen to scale the challenging 18-metre-high wall.

The schedule:

Men's teams are divided into three pools of five and play each side in their pool once.

The three women's sides play each other twice in a pool format to decide the two finalists.

The pool stage continues today and tomorrow. The finals are on Sunday from 8am until 2pm.

For more details, go to www.ymcahk.org.hk/kpcc