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Alvin Sallay

OK, it's time to gaze into my crystal ball. Unlike the British tabloids I don't see a crouching tiger, hidden hydrant (and golf-club-wielding wife). But abracadabra, I can see Hong Kong finishing fourth in the medal standings at the East Asian Games, behind China, Japan and South Korea. 
It  would be a huge achievement and Hong Kong's best-ever finish at these Games, which started in 1993 as a means to bring together nine countries and regions in a quadrennial celebration of sport.
Hong Kong must count itself geographically fortunate to be in the company of Asia's sporting superpowers China, Japan and South Korea. It gives our sports community a healthy reality check one year before the major event in the region - the Asian Games  in Guangzhou next year.
Last night's frenzy of fireworks  at the opening ceremony  got the fifth East Asian Games underway.  With the spectacular backdrop, I'm sure our chief guest,  IOC president Dr Jacques Rogge,    was suitably impressed.
Thank heavens then that  he will  be long gone when the cycling time trial takes place on Thursday. Just imagine  his  reaction  when told, 'Sorry, it's not open to spectators'.
Hopefully,  the powers that be will not make the same mistake again as they ambitiously look ahead to hosting the 2019 Asian Games.
The 80-kilometre time trial will take place on the new Tsing Sha Highway, which connects Sha Tin to Stonecutters Island.  Almost half of the eight-lap circuit - 32 kilometres - will be  in a tunnel. Combine the tunnel stretch and the highway and you  have an inaccessible  venue.
On the one hand, the government calls for the public to support the Games  and prove this city cares about sports - a major factor  if they are to back a 2019 Asian Games bid - but on the other  there is no opportunity for the public to watch the athletes in action.
A cycling official came out with the tired  excuse: 'We have very busy traffic in Hong Kong and it will cause a lot of problems to other users  if you close a road for the cycling competition.'
This conundrum is nothing new. Every year   come the Hong Kong Marathon the same issue  crops up. The major part of the 42km race is run on soulless highways and bridges that  are  out of bounds  to  anyone but the poor athletes.
Unless there is true political will from the people who matter - those who can close a road to stage a marathon or a cycling race, or shut the harbour to hold a regatta - we will always be left with the feeling that sport is, and will always be, regarded as  window dressing.
All the hype and hoopla cannot hide this sorry fact. 
Maybe, just maybe, these Games will open the eyes of the bureaucrats to what is possible through the allure of sport.
Perhaps if Hong Kong were to finish fourth in the standings - their previous best  was sixth in 1993 in Shanghai and 2001 in Osaka - it could create that feel-good factor.  
Already six gold medals have been decided - Hong Kong winning two of them. A further 256 will be run and swum, fought over, tangoed and quick-stepped. Hong Kong will be right in the fray. 
As hosts we had the right to choose which sports should provide the fun and games - and medals. Hong Kong went for six new sports - to add to the 16 that  were staged in Macau four years ago.  The  newcomers are BMX cycling, cue sports, squash, rugby sevens, table tennis  and windsurfing. 
In total they offer 30 gold medals, and if Hong Kong wins half of them, we should be well on our way to a best-ever finish.
Squash has seven gold medals and Hong Kong  can win them all. That's half the job done. We also fancy our chances in snooker and windsurfing, which together offer a dozen golds, and there is also a realistic hope of the men's rugby sevens team winning gold.  
Dr  Trisha Leahy,  chief executive of the Hong Kong Sports Institute,  which runs the elite programme under whose umbrella 11 sports fall, including all of the above barring rugby sevens, is confident of a good showing. 
She said expectations were high of 'medal outcomes' and also praised the government for the foresight in providing HK$10.8 million in extra funding 14 months  ago so the athletes could prepare.
'This has allowed us to top up the preparations and ensure all the bases are covered,' Leahy said. 
'We have been able to employ additional coaches, get top-end equipment, and have significantly increased the overseas training and competition programme.'
The 382-strong Hong Kong squad - well, at least those from the 11 institute-backed sports - are  physically and psychologically geared for the medal assault.
So the crystal ball might prove me right next Sunday. It will be a huge  achievement if Hong Kong can finish in the top three.  In Macau, China topped the standings with 127 golds and a total of 233 medals. Japan (46-179) were second ahead of South Korea (32-145).
Hong Kong could only manage two golds (shooting and wushu), two silvers and nine bronze medals to finish seventh out of nine. Even  'little brother' Macau did better, ranking fifth with 11 golds. But they had the home advantage - and choice of sports - which is now ours.
And even if some sports are closed to the public, the end result should bode well for Hong Kong.

