Hong Kong Sports Institute appoints Choi to top job, current CEO Leahy stepping down after 15 years
- Deputy chief executive Tony Choi will take over as running elite athlete programme on January 1
- Choi says he will see that ‘elite sports development will go from strength to strength’
The Hong Kong Sports Institute has appointed Tony Choi as its new chief executive, with incumbent Trisha Leahy stepping down next month after 15 years in the role.
It was confirmed in July that Leahy, who reached the institute’s retirement age of 65 last year, would remain in post for the recent Asian Games, before making way.
The institute said it had more than 100 applications for the role after employing an executive search agency to identify suitable candidates.
After a four-month recruitment process, and listening to the recommendations of a dedicated recruitment panel, the institute chose Choi, who has been deputy chief executive since 2016, for the top job.
He will start in the position on January 1, barely eight months before the Olympic Games begin in Paris.
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“I am honoured to be appointed as the HKSI chief executive,” Choi said. “This is a very exciting period for the local elite sport sector when we all are looking forward to the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics, and the 2025 15th National Games.
“With ongoing support from the Government, the HKSI, our stakeholders and the community, I believe elite sports development will go from strength to strength, and athletes will continue to succeed in the international sporting arena bringing honour to Hong Kong.”
The institute has an annual budget of more than HK$700 million. It described the objective of coaches at its Fo Tan training headquarters as “providing an environment in which sports talent can be identified, nurtured and developed to pursue excellence in the international sporting arena”.
A new building to provide more advanced training facilities for elite athletes is set for completion in the middle of next year.
The new chief executive’s remit will include “implementing the board’s policy directions aimed at identifying, nurturing and developing sporting talent, benchmarked by results at major Games”.
The city’s athletes claimed 53 medals, including eight golds, at this year’s Hangzhou Asian Games. At the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, staged in Tokyo in 2021, Hong Kong’s six medals comprised one gold, two silver and three bronze.
Choi was formerly head coach of Hong Kong’s elite squash programme, and in 2010 was awarded the government’s medal of honour.
HKSI chairman Tang King-shing said Choi’s “passion, dedication, and expertise in the development of elite sports”, made him “the ideal candidate to lead the HKSI forward to face the challenges ahead”.
