Coronavirus: Hong Kong sports community welcomes reopening of facilities 2 weeks earlier than expected
- Athletes preparing for September’s Asian Games, Para Asian Games and other major events can use facilities from Thursday
- But the general public and teaching coaches still have to wait for further notice
Individual athletes and teams preparing for major competitions this year were given a boost on Thursday, after the Hong Kong government reopened facilities two weeks earlier than expected.
Officials said on Wednesday that sports premises could reopen for the sole purpose of training or selection of athletes for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games and Asian Para Games, the World University Games, or Asian Football Confederation (AFC) tournaments.
However, social-distancing regulations brought in to combat the coronavirus would largely remain in place, meaning the general public and teaching coaches could not use these facilities.
Pui Kwan-kay, chairman of the Hong Kong Football Association, welcomed the return of football, which ground to a halt in January and saw the cancellation of this season’s Premier League.
“We have plans to resume training of the Hong Kong team later this month for the all-important 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers as everyone would assume the facilities would be reopen on April 21 when the existing social-distancing measures end,” said Pui.
“In fact, two clubs that are preparing for the regional cup competitions have already travelled to Thailand for training with no facilities available here. But still we will meet and decide a training plan as soon as possible to buy time.”
AFC Asian Champions League representatives Kitchee will start their two-week group stage in Thailand on April 16, while Lee Man will play Mongolia side Athletic 220 in the play off round on April 19.