Defending road race champion Wong Kam-po has blasted a move by the organisers of this month's Guangdong All China Games to close the venues in Shenzhen for exclusive preparation for their province's cyclists as 'unfair and against sporting spirit'.
Wong was furious that the Guangdong organisers robbed competitors of the training time at the venues and decided to allow cyclists from other provinces to train at the venues only two days before the event begin. Cycling events will be held from November 12-24 in Shenzhen.
'At major games such as the Olympics, Asian Games or even the last All China Games in Shanghai four year ago, competitors are allowed to train at the venues at least half-a-month before the events start. We had negotiated with the organisers but to no avail. I'm disappointed that they insisted on doing so,' the Asian champion said.
'I think organisers are obliged to enhance the preparations of all the cyclists as much as they can in order to see more records shattered. Now, I'm sure most competitors won't be able to perform at their best. It's clear that the organisers are only concerned with how many medals Guangdong cyclists can win. It's very unfair for the rest of us,' he said.
Wong expected that the two-day pre-Games training would turn into chaos because the venues would be crammed with hundreds of cyclists from different provinces.
Wong and his teammates have had to fine-tune their skills in road-racing in Zhuhai and the velodrome at Shatin's Sports Institute in the lead-up to the Games.
