New Hong Kong sports centre has been sacrificed at altar of big business, says district councillor

A sports information centre will finally open to the public on Hong Kong’s iconic “Sneaker Street”, 12 years after authorities first pledged to do so.

The Sports Expo, which was originally intended to be a sports hall of fame, forms part of the Urban Renewal Authority’s HK$3.14 billion Sai Yee Street redevelopment project in Mong Kok.

The revamp involved building Skypark, a commercial and residential project which includes a sports-themed shopping centre called The Forest, and a high-rise residential tower with 439 flats.

The authority was criticised when the sports hall of fame and an open garden, which were included in the proposed plan, did not materialise when the 10-year project was completed in 2017.

“The Sports Expo has addressed the theme of promoting local sports. Although the space is limited, we used innovative technology to give the public an experience of local sports and its basic training techniques,” said an authority spokesman.

“We wanted to show as much information as possible, and in a more interactive way.”

But Andy Yu Tak-po, Yau Tsim Mong district councillor and Civic Party member, said the URA had mislead the public with an “underwhelming” exhibition.

“I see the Sports Expo as an extra selling point. It’s like when you go to the wet market and the vegetable seller gives you a free stalk of spring onion, the sports expo is basically the spring onion,” he said.

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“They’d rather cut the sky garden and the hall of fame, not the number of retail shops. This shows that they were just using these facilities as selling points to get district council and public support. In the end they sided with businesses and sacrificed what was promised – more public space and promoting sports in Hong Kong.”

The 2,100 sq ft Sports Expo, which is on level 2 of the shopping centre, has three game areas with motion sensors and virtual reality technology, where visitors can experience eight types of sports training, including equestrian, windsurfing and beach volleyball.

The URA partnered with local athletes, such as women’s national football team representative Kwok Ching-man, and basketball player Tsai Choi-kwan, to create games modelled on their own training.

Additionally, the authority filmed interviews with eight elite athletes, including, Cado Lee Ka-to, a rugby sevens star, and the city’s top fencer, Vivian Kong Man-wai, as part of its hall of fame display inside the venue.

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Visitors can also look up information on more than 40 sports and see a timeline with over 200 historical photos of Hong Kong athletes in major international competitions on two interactive touch screens.

Libra Yuen, a 36 year-old engineer is eager to visit the Sports Expo when it opens on Thursday.

“It might be a bit small but I think it’s fine because people can still learn more about local sports,” he said. “It will be wasteful if the space is too big and not enough people visit.”

Located along Sai Yee Street, Nelson Street and the world-famous Fa Yuen Street, known as “Sneaker Street”, because of its array of sports shoe shops, the project aimed to preserve the characteristics of the area.

But Pinky Wong, a 23 year-old nurse, said she preferred shopping on “Sneaker Street”, and thinks the shopping centre could have done more to promote local sports.

“The mall is very commercialised and full of big brands. I want to support local businesses,” she said.

“It’d be better if the Sports Expo were on the ground floor so more people are aware of it. Right now, it’s not in a very visible position. I even had trouble seeing the sign.”