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FOUR letters best sum up the year that was for Hong Kong sport: ICAC.

 The anti-corruption body revealed that two of the most popular public pastimes, soccer and horse racing, were rotten.

 It was a wretched year for these two sports, which were in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

 Corruption had cast its shadow over the tracks and fields of dreams.

 Soccer was rocked by revelations mid-year over a plot to throw international and domestic games for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

 In June, Sing Tao's international winger Chan Tsz-kong was jailed for a year and banned for life by the Hong Kong Football Association. Chan had pleaded guilty to conspiring with other Hong Kong internationals to lose to Thailand in a World Cup qualifier in Bangkok in March, 1997.

 The wits in this town said later that it was money thrown away in vain for Hong Kong would have lost anyway. Hong Kong, who had edged to a narrow victory in the home leg, were beaten 2-0 by Thailand in Bangkok.

 It was no laughing matter for local soccer. Along with Chan, the ICAC had also charged Kevin Lok Kar-wan, Lee Wai-man, Chan Chi-keung, Wai Kwan-lung and Lau Chi-yuen. They pleaded not guilty.

 The Independent Commission Against Corruption charged them with 17 offences.

 The charges came six months after the five, with Chan, were arrested by anti-graft officers for being involved in an international match-fixing syndicate. A number of bookmakers were also detained at the time.

 The HKFA prayed that this was just a solitary case - a case of a few bad apples. But a spokesman for the ICAC later alleged that local First Division games were also fixed.

 An ICAC statement pinpointed certain games between senior clubs, in past seasons, which had been fixed.

 Matches were thrown for big sums of money.

 Soccer, which over the past few seasons had seen declining gate receipts and crowd interest due to the mediocre fare being dished out, was kicked where it hurts most. The game's credibility had been hit.

 Horse racing also received a similar hit. Earlier this month, a fistful of jockeys were arrested by the ICAC in an investigation into an alleged multi-million dollar race-fixing racket.

 Former apprentice jockey Keith Kwok Ting was jailed for six months for taking up to $200,000 from a fellow rider to fix races. A number of others were remanded in ICAC custody. This case brought back memories of the infamous Shanghai Syndicate, which had its tentacles deeply embedded in horse racing and fixed races back in the '80s before the racket was busted wide open.

 However, it was not all doom and gloom in 1998.

 Indeed, 1998 can be known as the year when Hong Kong sport found its self-confidence. This came late in the year, and not at home, but at the Asian Games in Bangkok.

 The SAR returned with their biggest ever haul of medals from an international multi-sport event, bringing back 17 medals - five golds, six silver and six bronze.

 Windsurfer Lee Lai-Shan won her first Asian Games gold medal in Pattaya. Cycling ace Wong Kam-po won the 200-kilometre road race by a whisker. Wushu artist Ng Siu-ching also struck gold as did the snooker team of Marco Fu Ka-chun, Chan Wai-tat and Chan Kwok-ming.

 The surprise gold medallist was tenpin bowler Hui Cheung-kwok.

 The successful Hong Kong squad came back to a heroes' - and heroines' - welcome.

 They were met by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, who promised to look into setting up a programme to secure their futures, and then given a open-deck bus parade in Tsim Sha Tsui.

 Hong Kong was at last recognising its athletes. The Asian Games is the main focal point of local sport and it is the yardstick every four years to show how far Hong Kong athletes have developed.

 As such, 1998 has proven to be a landmark year.

 With new president of the Amateur Sports Federation and Olympic Committee Timothy Fok Tsun-ting in the chair (he was unanimously picked in March after long-time office-bearer A. de O. Sales stepped down), Hong Kong sport is now facing the future confidently.

 While the Asian Games stole most of the limelight, bringing 1998 to a joyful end, there were a number of other noteworthy achievements in 1998.

 In rowing, Fenella Ng Gar-loc showed she has come a long way since emerging out of the water like a mermaid in 1994. Back then she was a swimmer. But with some persuasion from rowing coach Chris Perry, Ng turned to rowing and her decision proved right when she finished sixth - Hong Kong's finest performance - in the 'A' final of the World Championships in Cologne, Germany in September.

 It was one better than her previous best at the World Championship. Ng was thus tipped to win her pet event, the women's lightweight singles, at the Asian Games. But she had to settle for silver after a Chinese rower, trained by the famous Ma Junren of Ma's Family Army fame, stole away the gold.

 Hong Kong also found a new star in the form of snooker ace Fu.

 The 20-year-old Fu, who learned the art of the green baize while studying in Canada, injected new enthusiasm into a sport which had its local heyday in the late '80s when impresario Barry Hearn used to bring his stable of stars which included six-time former world champion Steve Davis.

 But waning interest had seen snooker relegated to the smoky parlours of Wan Chai.

 That is until fresh-faced Fu came along.

 The reigning world amateur and under-21 champion entered the final of his first ranking professional tournament in October - the British Grand Prix in Preston. On his way he claimed a number of illustrious scalps, including people like Ronnie O'Sullivan and Peter Ebdon. Fu is now being seen as the new star from Asia, a title he hopes to wrest away soon from Thailand's king of snooker, James Wattana Pu Ob-orm.

 Yes, Hong Kong athletes did make waves overseas. They also rocked the boat occasionally at home. Like football's Hong Kong League XI, who reached the final of the Carlsberg Cup against Nigeria in January.

 The all-expatriate side (the first time an all-expat side were fielded) had defeated World Cup-bound Chile 3-1, thanks to a Paul Foster hat-trick, to book their berth against Nigeria, another team on their way to France 98.

 But the rhythmic Nigerians were a class above Hong Kong's foreign legion and won 2-0.

 In rugby union, another all-expatriate side scored creditable wins over Canada, the United States and Japan at home in the Pacific Rim Championship in May-June. Paul Dingley and his men, however, lacked the depth in resources to maintain that vein of form and once again finished second to perpetual Pac Rim champions Canada.

 There was further bad news for Dingley and company when the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union decided that Hong Kong would not take part in next year's expanded Pac Rim tournament which will now also include Samoa, Fiji and Tonga.

 Hong Kong also failed to qualify for next year's Rugby World Cup when, struggling with eligibility issues, they lost to Taiwan and Japan at the Asian Championships in Singapore in October.

 Another sport inherited from the British, cricket, took the headlines when for the first time the position of presidency was contested. Incumbent Terry Smith faced a close battle from Papu Butani, finally holding on to his job by just two votes.

 The narrowness of the margin stemmed from public unhappiness over the running of the Hong Kong Cricket Association. The cancellation of this year's popular Hong Kong Sixes and uncertainty over the proposed Super Max Eights contributed to the general outlook of rebellion.

 In hockey, Hong Kong qualified for next year's Asia Cup by winning the competition among second-tier Asian nations. With new Australian coach Tony Gillon installing a new training ethic, hopes were high of a good showing at the Asian Games. But regional powers Pakistan and Malaysia, along with the impressive Japanese, proved too hot for Hong Kong to handle as they finished eighth.

 The individual athletes who stood out in 1998 included squash queen Rebecca Chiu, table tennis ace Chan Tan-lui, cyclist Wong and a host of others too numerous to mention.

 This is a good sign for the SAR. But sadly, 1998 will be known as a year of contamination for Hong Kong sport.

Editorial, Page 8   



Corruption rocks 1998 but Asian Games glory salvages a turbulent year for Hong