Ng On-yee's world snooker feats could be the cue for resurrecting the sport's glory days in HK
Her tremendous feats deserve high praise and should inspire Hong Kong officials to bring back big-time tournaments
It is very rare that Hong Kong can boast of having a world champion in its midst. But in Ng On-yee we have a true-blue Hongkonger who was crowned the queen of women's snooker a few weeks ago.
The 24-year-old from Sheung Wan did Hong Kong proud when she defeated England's Emma Bonney in the final in Leeds. That moment had been preceded by a stunning victory in the semi-finals over another Englishwoman, Reanne Evans, who had held the world crown for the last 10 years.
Ng, whose dad had been a taxi driver and supported his family of six in a 500-square-foot flat, made light of reputation as she added her name to a small list of local athletes who have reached the top in their individual disciplines.
Yet Ng's feat demands some sort of recognition and perhaps the best way would be for the sport's officials to get Hong Kong on to the world circuit in men's or women's professional snooker
Our champions don't get a ticker-tape parade like they often do in other countries - just look at the Philippines where Manny Pacquiao was paraded through the streets of Manila even though he lost to Floyd Mayweather Jnr and was labelled a sore loser - as we are not great on displays of affection for our sporting heroines (maybe other than Lee Lai-shan, perhaps).
Yet Ng's feat demands some sort of recognition and perhaps the best way would be for the sport's officials to get Hong Kong on to the world circuit in men's or women's professional snooker.
We have a champion; let's give her a stage to play in front of her home fans.
Once upon a time Hong Kong hosted top-class professional snooker. Remember the days when impresario Barry Hearn used to bring his Matchroom stable of stars including Steve Davis, Alex Higgins, Terry Griffiths and Dennis Taylor. And later there were Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan. They played at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium and always in front of a full house.
Snooker is one of the most-watched sports on television in Britain. It can mesmerise. It's one sport where people dress up to the nines, but still have to handle tons of pressure where one miscue can cost glory.
It is time to bring back the stars, especially since we have the likes of Ng and Marco Fu Ka-chun, Hong Kong's top-ranked men's professional at number 11. With China's Ding Junhui, the world number four, also in the mix, it would surely be a winner with the fans.
The Mega Events Fund last week handed out HK$27.5 million to golf (HK$15 million), tennis (HK$7 million) and dragon boating (HK$5.5 million) to help put their marquee events on the world map.
Kudos to the MEF for backing these tournaments, but can we hope for more?
A snooker event featuring our own world champion might be a start, but it would be more practical staging a men's professional tournament as part of the world circuit
These sports applied under the MEF's tier two scheme, which in essence supports existing tournaments. It has still to fund a tier one event - a new tournament which would help raise the profile of Hong Kong and draw crowds.
A snooker event featuring our own world champion might be a start, but it would be more practical staging a men's professional tournament as part of the world circuit. This could be played in the week preceding or following the China Open - the 2015 tournament with a draw of 64 and total prize money of more than HK$5.7 million was held last month in Beijing and won by world number one Mark Selby of England.
Failing that, why not put up a big purse and invite a field of the leading men and women professionals to shoot for it? People love coming to Hong Kong and the lure of big prize money will be an added incentive. And with Ng, Fu and Ding in the mix, that would be a big draw.
Why not also throw in a mixed team event, where Selby partners Evans and they take on Fu and Ng. Or just imagine Ding and the top-ranked woman from China taking on Stuart Bingham and Bonney.
The white ball is now in the pocket of the Hong Kong Billiard Sports Control Council. It should reach out to the MEF. Maybe it should also seek help from Wayne Griffiths, who is head snooker coach at the Hong Kong Sports Institute and Ng's coach. He is the son of former world champion Terry Griffiths.
Ng didn't get a free bus ride through the streets of Hong Kong, but if she sparks a snooker renaissance, it would make up for it.
