Jealous of Hong Kong: why Ng On-yee and her teammates are the aristocrats and envy of the women’s world tour
- Multiple world champion Reanne Evans reached out to sponsors on social media just to allow her to play on the tour
- As full-time athletes, Hong Kong players are given a monthly income and fully sponsored for all their overseas tournaments
Some months ago, England’s world number one Reanne Evans put an ad out on social media looking for sponsors.
She was an 11-time world champion, having dominated the sport for a decade and a half and is arguably the greatest women’s player ever. Yet, she needed to ask for funding simply to ensure she could continue.
Eighteen-year-old Steph Daughtery, the UK under-21 champion, was forced to work extra shifts at a cafe in Wakefield, Yorkshire just to make enough money to make the trip to Bangkok, Thailand for the ongoing Women’s World Championship.
The extent of Daughtery’s support is a vehicle from her sponsor that allows her to drive to various tournaments around the United Kingdom.
“It’s just the way it has been, we’ve never known anything different,” Evans told the South China Morning Post.
Indira Gowda works in a family construction business in Bangalore, India. The 43-year-old is the eighth-ranked player in her country but only the top two are eligible for government support.