Tokyo 2020: Hong Kong coach Chris Perry targets two crews in Olympic Games qualifiers
- Chiu Hin-chun and Chan Chi-fung, favourites to reach Tokyo, are gold medal winners at the Asian Championships
- Under-23 women’s singles rower Winne Hung is an outside hope after helping Hong Kong to the coastal world quad title
A gold medal at the Asian Championships has Chris Perry confident of at least one Hong Kong crew at the Tokyo Olympics but the veteran rowing coach is targeting two teams for the 2020 Olympics.
Perry, the Hong Kong Sports Institute’s head coach, is counting on the men’s lightweight doubles pair of Chiu Hin-chun and Chan Chi-fung to grab one spot at the Asia/Oceania Olympic Qualification Regatta in Chungju, South Korea at the end of April.
The qualifiers are being held at the same venue as October’s Asian Championships, where Asian champions Chiu and Chan took gold.
“I am very confident we have the chance to qualify at least one crew and we will go all out to get two if we can. The latter is harder, however,” Perry said.
“At the moment [Chiu and Chan] are favourites based on the Asian Championships results. But our women’s team also can be strong. We still have our Rio double and also the strong under-23 [rower in] Winne Hung Wing-yan. So we can’t discount the women.”
Hong Kong claimed one gold, two silvers and a bronze in Chungju. Chiu and Chan teamed up with