All Around Town: John Tsang shows the striker's instinct of being in the right place at the right time

If Hong Kong football fans were the people calling the shots in the 2017 chief executive election, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah should not hesitate to take the plunge as his boss Leung Chun-ying would be no match for him. On Tuesday night, the finance chief took time out to sit in on Hong Kong's World Cup qualifier against Qatar at Mong Kok Stadium at the invitation of Chim Pui-chung, honorary manager of the local team. He uploaded a picture of the pitch as the new cover photo on his Facebook page - drawing more than 2,600 likes by yesterday evening. One internet user hoped Tsang would run for chief executive, while another wrote: "Good that it was you [Tsang] who came. It could trigger a riot if 689 came here." By contrast, Leung's critics never seem to tire of using his nickname; 689 is the number of votes that made him Hong Kong's top leader in 2012. He did not watch the game, but praised the Hong Kong players in his blog for their fighting spirit despite the 3-2 defeat by Qatar. Leung could yet endear himself to football fans by showing up at Hong Kong's qualifier against China on November 17, though that will come a little too close to another big party - an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meeting on November 18 and 19 in Manila.

The cross-harbour swim, revived five years ago, will be here again next month - but lawmakers missed the chance to make a splash. In 2013, Ma Fung-kwok, of the sports, performing arts, culture and publication sectors, invited four of his Legislative Council colleagues and formed an impressive line-up. But this year, he did not respond to participation requests from two of them, Kenneth Leung of the Professional Commons and Democrat Wu Chi-wai - and the deadline has passed. "I did remind Ma during a Disneyland marathon in June," Leung told All Around Town. "I'm really disappointed. I will take the lead to form a Legco team next time." A clueless Wu even thought Ma had registered on his behalf until All Around Town informed him to the contrary. Ma protested his innocence: "I was out of town during the summer. I only encouraged them to take part but I didn't say I'd help. How come they sound like it's my fault?" At 60, he was giving the race a miss to avoid having to obtain a doctor's certificate to prove he was fit, as required for participants aged at least 60.