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Alvin Sallay

Just picture this. One day, Hong Kong's first family of sport could well be none other than Kenneth Fok Kai-kong and Guo Jingjing.  
For the uninitiated - those who don't read the gossip columns - Kenneth is the eldest son of sports supremo Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, while Guo is China's diving diva.
Record Olympic diving gold medallist Guo  is romantically linked to Kenneth. The pair are a hot item.  Kenneth is the playboy grandson of late Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok Ying-tung and Guo is a celebrated athlete whose face is one of the best known in China.
Just imagine the buzz such a pair would bring.  She, the darling of a billion people and he, the heir to one of the richest fortunes in town. 
 On Tuesday,  Kenneth will take up the position  of deputy secretary-general of the Hong Kong Sports Federation and Olympic Committee (SFOC). It could be the first step towards one day succeeding his father as president.
At the moment he is a small potato in  the sporting hierarchy. There are three deputy secretary-generals, the other two are Ronnie Wong Man-chiu and Professor Leung Mee Lee. The third slot has been vacant since 1998 when  Lai Yu-wing, retired.
But from small acorns  grow big oak trees. And Kenneth has taken the first step in extending the Fok sporting dynasty.
He was nominated by Victor Hui Chun-fui, a vice-president of the SFOC, and his selection at Tuesday's annual general meeting of the SFOC is a formality as there will be no other candidates. 
After 11 years, it was felt the governing body of sport needed a third deputy secretary-general and, hey presto, Kenneth's name was put forward.
If you are thinking of running for the position, don't bother. It is too late as nominations closed 21 days before the AGM. The door to the star chamber has been shut.
So what will Kenenth bring to the table?  Pang Chung, the long-standing secretary-general of the SFOC, says: 'Young blood.'
 You can't argue with that. To put it delicately, the SFOC hierarchy's taste in music is more Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra than the Bee Gees or even Michael Jackson. They think Coldplay is when a team fail to rock. They are more adept at the Viennese Waltz than disco dancing a la John Travolta.
Kenneth, who is in his late 20s, will undoubtedly be an infusion of young blood. Hopefully, he will bring fresh ideas to reinvigorate the SFOC.
He will come armed with an empty portfolio. Still quite raw in sports administration, Kenneth is one of two 'presidents' in charge of the Hong Kong Amateur Gymnastics Association.  He has no other background in sports other than the fact he has accompanied his  father to a number of major Games around the world.
This is not an election year in the SFOC. All the officer-bearers hold  a two-year tenure, with the current term ending in 2010. So it will be next year that Kenneth will officially face elections. But never fear, he is in for the long haul. Once you're in the SFOC door, it seems you're in for life, until you decide you have better things to do than gallivant around the world attending  events like the Olympics.
But some elections you cannot get away with. Ask Fok senior, who is facing the ballot in October when he runs for a second term as a member of the International Olympic Committee. 'I still have a strong desire to serve sports and there is a lot I can do for Hong Kong as an IOC member,' said Fok after returning from Kuwait last week having attended the Olympic Council of Asia congress. 'I had some informal meetings with other IOC members in Kuwait and received many positive comments [regarding] what I have done over the past eight years.'
His detractors might ask  how Hong Kong has benefited from Fok's presence inside the hallowed halls of the IOC. They say Fok represents the IOC in Hong Kong but he doesn't represent Hong Kong at the IOC.
They will point to the exclusion of badminton ace Zhou Mi from the Beijing Olympics as an example of where he failed to  use his clout.  Zhou, a former mainland star, failed to get IOC dispensation to take part in last year's Games.
Fok's fans will say it was because of him that Hong Kong got the Olympic equestrian events and won the bid to host the East Asian Games. The cynics will say the equestrian deal was brokered by the Jockey Club, the Hong Kong government and the Chinese authorities. They will  maintain that Fok had no say at all. As for the East Asian Games, they will say no one else among the nine countries bid for it.
Fok was elected as an IOC member in July 2001 in Moscow. He entered the IOC because of his father's connections and influence. But with his dad's demise, and with Juan Antonio Samaranch no longer in power, his links are tenuous at best. 
The IOC once used to be a hangout for septuagenarians. But all that is changing under president Jacques Rogge who, after succeeding Samaranch, is trying to make the assembly more merit-oriented. He has brought in more ex-athletes, and there is the possibility Hong Kong will lose its sole representative on the IOC come October.
Fok, who is 63, does not fall into the above bracket of hangers-on, but he knows he has his work cut out. The Olympic Charter says IOC members are elected for a period of eight years, but their mandate can be renewed until they reach the age of 70. That depends on Rogge and his executive.
There is a whimsical feeling of irony in all of this. In Hong Kong the wheels are turned by the men in power, as seen by Kenneth's ascension to the SFOC, but it is not quite as rubber-stamped a process in the halls of the IOC. Not any more.




Family affair as Fok Jnr prepares to follow in father's footsteps