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Top juniors in race for sporting Oscars

With just a week left for the public to vote, students Sze-hang-yu and Tang Yik-chun are the top choices to win junior honours at the prestigious Hong Kong Sports Star Awards in March.

Online voting will influence four of the six categories at Hong Kong's 'sporting Oscars' this year.

The awards offer total prize money of $456,000.

As well as a cash prize, the six winners in the junior category will each receive a round-trip, economy-class ticket to any Asian destination from Cathay Pacific Airways.

Swimmer Hang-yu and sprinter Yik-chun lead the way, while other youngsters who feature in the top six of the Junior Award, after three weeks of voting so far, include Yip Tsz-wa (swimming), Wong Wai-hong (badminton), and Liu Nga-yin and Lau Wan-tat (handball).

Usually the public has a say only in the Hong Kong Sports Stars Awards, the most prestigious category, but this time their choices will influence who wins in the junior and team events, and a new entry - Team Only.

By the end of last week, more than 25,000 people had cast their votes on the Hong Kong Sports Federation & Olympic Committee's official website at www.hkolympic.org.

The deadline for online voting is next Monday.

More than 11,400 votes had been cast for the Senior Sports Stars Awards, some 9,900 for Junior, nearly 1,800 for Team Only, and over 1,300 for Team Event.

In the senior category, where eight stars will be honoured, some familiar names have taken pole position.

Most votes have gone to Fan Chun-yip (football), Wong Ho-yeung (boxing), Lee Lai-shan (windsurfing), Ko Lai-chak and Li Ching (table tennis), Wong Kam-Po (cycling), Rebecca Chiu Wing-yin (squash) and Marco Fu Ka-chun (snooker).

The Team Only category aims to recognise the achievements of athletes who compete in sports which have no individual category, such as volleyball, football or basketball.

Another award - Team Event - is for those sports, such as table tennis, fencing, athletics or swimming, which have a combination of events (doubles or relay, for example).

Sun Hei (football) and the Sports for Mentally Handicapped women's relay squad (swimming) currently top the Team Only and Team Event categories, respectively.

The glittering awards ceremony is held every March at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.

In the senior category, where eight stars will be honoured, some familiar names have taken pole position

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