Taiwan return for HK riders

HONGKONG are sending a squad of five young riders to next month's Tour de Taiwan series - the first overseas race since the territory pulled out of last year's Barcelona Olympics in disgrace.

Fighting broke out between local riders during a training stint in France last summer after Hongkong coach Chow Tat-ming withdrew from the squad because of a wages dispute with the Hongkong Cycling Association.

The squad was split in two after the fight and, with the training programme in tatters, the cycling association were forced to withdraw from the Olympics at the request of the territory's governing body, the Amateur Sports Federation and Olympic Committee.

The HKCA are back on track though and hope to put the Olympic controversy behind them with good results in the Tour de Taiwan at which Hongkong riders have always fared well.

But with a new and inexperienced squad and without the territory's top rider, Wong Kam-po, who has quit top-level racing to concentrate on his studies, the territory face an uphill battle in the nine-stage event.

In-form Sin Wing-hang, the reigning Hongkong-Macau Interport champion and the best local rider this season, will lead the squad, which also comprises Tang Ka-lok, Chan Lung, Cheng Kwok-chiu and Man Wai-chung.