Over the weekend of November 4 and 5, the 22nd Hong Kong Rowing Championships were held on the Shing Mun River in Sha Tin.
Dozens of local crews were joined by international athletes from China, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Japan and Singapore in a huge variety of keenly contested races. The event was very well supported by the public and by a number of major companies which provided sponsorship.
At the end of the regatta, Olympic athlete and five times gold medal winner, Steven Redgrave, was there to present the prizes alongside the President of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, Timothy Fok.
Where was the local TV coverage of this event? On the Sunday evening news, TVB Pearl focused on a cycling time trial in its Hong Kong sports slot. ATV World mentioned a local football match and lawn bowls. They both mentioned beach volleyball and tennis.
In previous years, there has always been a brief item on all four local stations. Usually the report has featured the final of the eights plus an interview with a personality from the sport. Completely ignoring this major event is insulting to the Hong Kong China Rowing Association, demotivating for the major sponsors and disrespectful to the many overseas teams who had made the effort to travel to Hong Kong to compete.
Perhaps TVB Pearl and ATV World would explain their criteria for covering major international competitions taking place in Hong Kong.
