Disillusioned coaches have drawn up a petition to Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.

Among those to go are Margaret Siu, head of sports development, Catherine Chan, head of operations, and Godwin Fung, head of finance. The layoffs amount to almost one quarter of the board's 311 staff.

One board official told the Sunday Morning Post: 'We got letters saying our posts will be deleted from April 1. More than 70 of my colleagues got these letters. There is a lot of discontent.'

Workers staged a protest outside the Sports Institute in Sha Tin on Friday and burned copies of the dismissal letters. Others have sent them back in protest.

Meanwhile, in a joint letter they will send to Mr Tung this week, Hong Kong's 13 top coaches - from sports such as badminton, table tennis and windsurfing, which have been designated 'elite' sports - will lay out their fears over financing if and when the Sports Commission is set up.

The commission would be a purely advisory body, chaired by Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping, who would have executive power. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department would be the funding arm.

Sports officials fear that hands-on government involvement will have a negative impact.

Chung Pak-kwong, director of elite training and sports development at the Sports Institute, said: 'While Hong Kong is making cuts, other countries are investing more in sports. The Singapore government, for instance, spends HK$150 million annually on its elite sports programme alone.'

The bill needed to allow the commission to begin work is being held up in Legco over lawmakers' fears on staffing issues.

'We will write to the chief executive, asking him not to cut funds for elite sports,' one coach said. 'We believe under the new scheme the budget will be drastically cut in the new financial year. We are questioning the government's commitment to elite sports.'

Windsurfing coach Rene Appel, who was the force behind Lee Lai-shan's gold medal at the 1996 Olympics, said: 'Many of the elite sporting programmes are understaffed, as the number of athletes in different age groups has increased over the years in order to guarantee long-term results.

'The number of technical staff, however, has not. The government should be releasing more funding to sport as a whole.'

A disgruntled board member said: 'They sent these letters and then also told us that 31 newly created positions will be available on April 1. They asked us to apply for these jobs by Monday. We will be doing the same thing for less pay.'

Full story - Sunday Sport Page 5