There was plenty of back-slapping at last Monday's Hong Kong Sports Star Awards night as both government officials and senior members of the Hong Kong Olympic Committee indulged in celebrating a successful year for sport.
Undoubtedly the record haul of 40 medals, including eight gold, at the Asian Games last November was reason enough for the festivities. But should Hong Kong's sporting community be celebrating?
It would have been more apt if the awards night, which also doubles up as the annual spring dinner of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee, was viewed as a wake following the demise of plans to bid for the 2023 Asian Games.
Tsang Tak-sing, the secretary for home affairs, said in his speech that 'it was a wonderful year for Hong Kong', referring to the Asian Games medal glut. He quietly ignored the kick in the teeth to the sporting community from our legislators, who voted against providing funds for the 2023 Games bid.
The facile excuse was that the government should prove that it is serious about sport and put in place a sporting culture. But what comes first, the chicken or the egg? Wouldn't an Asian Games in 2023 have gone a long way to creating this sports culture our legislators said was lacking and used as an excuse for denying the HK$6 billion needed for the Games? We won't know the answer now.
Yet the onus is on the government to carry on. And they did that in some style when the financial secretary announced in his budget speech on Wednesday that HK$7 billion would be set aside to create an Elite Athletes Development Fund.