Hong Kong's bid for berths at the 2008 Olympic Games got off to a shaky start, but officials are still confident that it will not affect their athletes' chances of making it in two years' time.
All three SAR representatives - Yu Wing-ho and Ma Kwok-po in the men's and Chan Wai-man in the women's competition - failed to make the gold fleet in the RS:X world championships which finish in Torbole, Italy today. The gold fleet comprised the top 82 men and the leading 41 women.
The Italian event served as a selection for the 2007 world championships where 75 per cent of the Beijing Games berths will be allocated. Hong Kong are vying for one spot each in the men's and women's events.
'Only 35 men and 28 women's windsurfers will make it to the 2008 Qingdao Olympic windsurfing event,' said Dennis Chau Wai-keung, executive director of the Hong Kong Windsurfing Association. 'To qualify, the boardsailors must finish with relatively high positions in the 2007 world event. However, if they miss out then they will still have a chance in the 2008 world event which decides the remaining 25 per cent of the berths.'
According to Chau, the 2007 world event will be available only for windsurfers who did well in the just-finished regatta in Torbole, or those who achieved very good results in the 2005 world championships even though that event was contested in the mistral class which will not be used in Qingdao.
'We were a bit lucky as our windsurfers achieved remarkable results in the 2005 world championships when mistral was still used as the prevailing equipment, and those good results should give us a fair representation in the 2007 world events,' he said.