The coach of the Hong Kong team is pessimistic about their chances in the Asia Championships in Singapore because two of the SAR's best medal hopes will not be competing.
Chan Yiu-hoi said the team's chances of winning at the championships, to be held from March 5-10 at the Singapore Sports School, had been cut drastically because they did not have a full team.
'Hong Kong will suffer at the championships because two of our best swimmers are studying overseas and will not be coming back to represent us,' Chan said.
'This is a great disadvantage. Choi Hiu-wai is at Berkeley and Chan Yu-ling is at the Ohio State University. We couldn't arrange for them to join the team, because they have exams this month. We don't have a full team, so our chances for winning have been reduced by half,' Chan said. The team now comprises just 14 members.
'Choi has been a winner for many years. She holds six Hong Kong records. So it would really help to have her there. Our team would be much stronger with the two of them,' he said.
Another reason why the coach is pessimistic about their chances is that China should, as usual, dominate the competition with their 56-strong squad.