Football players yesterday mourned one of the territory's most promising young players, So Kam-yiu, 18, who died in the Top One karaoke bar blaze.
So played right-back for the territory's youth squad and had been selected to train with some of Hong Kong's top athletes at the Sports Institute.
He recently decided to give his school studies priority over his sports training but experts said he had a good chance of pursuing a professional career in soccer.
Sports Institute soccer coach Lai Sun-cheung said So stood out as having great potential.
So joined Uhlsport-Rangers' youth team in 1995 and helped the team win the runners-up medal in the Coca Cola Championship last year. Rangers manager and football association youth committee chairman Philip Lee Fai-lap said his loss was felt by the entire team.
'We feel very sad at this news. He was so young and showed he had every chance of developing into a very good player.
