Tennis pleads for more time at Hong Kong Sports institute
Seven years after being kicked out, the code reclaims its tier A status at the academy but wants at least eight years to make an impact
After seven years in the wilderness, tennis returned on Wednesday to the Hong Kong Sports Institute as a tier A elite sport with annual funding of around HK$5 million guaranteed over the next four years.
However, Hong Kong Tennis Association chairman Herbert Chow Siu-lung wants more - eight years assured in the elite training academy.
"We are very pleased to be back at the Sports Institute but we hope more time can be given - until the 2022 Asian Games - to defend our elite status by winning a medal at those Games. Four years is not enough time to develop an Asian Games medal winner," Chow said.
Four years is not enough time to develop an Asian Games medal winner
Tennis, which was an elite sport from 2001 to 2008, was kicked out after it failed to reach the official benchmark set by the Sports Institute. It won back lost ground when Hong Kong number one women's player Zhang Ling reached the semi-finals at the 2013 Asian Championships in Bangkok to allow the sport to reach the required points to become an elite sport.
The sport had to wait a year until the new cycle started - April 1, 2015 to April 1, 2019 - and on Wednesday it was welcomed into the Fo Tan academy. Sailing will also become an elite sport.
"We are delighted that tennis and sailing are part of the tier A group and look forward to working with both national sports associations to add value to their elite training programme, with a view to meeting the benchmark results over the next four-year cycle," said Trisha Leahy, HKSI chief executive.
But Chow felt four years for a sport to make its mark was far too short a time, especially with the benchmark being raised at the Institute, where sports must win an Asian Games medal to remain entitled to millions of dollars in government subsidies plus ancillary support, including the provision of a head coach.
The next Asian Games is in 2018 in Jakarta, leaving tennis just three years to make a mark. Last week the Hong Kong men's Davis Cup team failed in their bid to get back into group two in the Asia/Oceania zone.