Hong Kong's top rapid-fire shooters will be sent to Beijing for a year of training with the aces of China's national team in 2007 to prepare for the Olympic Games.
After holding talks with China's shooting team, head coach and Olympic gold medallist Wang Yifu in Nanjing last week, the secretary general of the Hong Kong Shooting Association Edgar Yang Joe-tsi said they had reached an agreement with the national team to let top shooters from the SAR train with their mainland counterparts.
Yang said Hong Kong's representatives for the 2008 Olympics will train with the top eight rapid-fire shooters in China, including this year's National Games winner Chen Yongqiang, and renowned shooters such as Zhang Penghui and Liu Guohui. 'Training with the national squad is a very rare opportunity,' Yang said. 'Shooting is not only about technique, but also about one's mental quality. When training with the cream of the cream in China, a place full of the world's top shooters, our athletes can adjust and learn how to manage their psychological states in competition.'
He hinted that Hong Kong's current number one rapid-fire shooter Wong Fai and the promising 19-year-old Yam Fong-hoi, who clinched a gold and a silver respectively in the 29th South East Asia Championship, would be the most likely candidates to be sent to the training sessions.
'We aim to get into the last eight at the Olympic Games,' Yang said, adding that a year of training in Beijing would allow them to get used to the competition venues there.
Details of the training arrangements will be discussed when coach Wang Yifu visits Hong Kong in March, Yang said. Wang will also assess the shooting facilities in Hong Kong.
