Sports Stars Awards presentation postponed as epidemic continues to blight Hong Kong sport
- Organisers will not risk exposing over 100 table guests, including Hong Kong’s leading athletes, ahead of 2020 Tokyo Olympics
- Snooker queen Ng On-yee and track cycling star Sarah Lee lead public voting
Public voting for the annual Hong Kong Sports Stars Awards ended at the weekend, but the March presentation ceremony is to be postponed as the coronavirus epidemic continues to hit the domestic sports agenda.
A new date in May is being worked out, according to chairman of the organising committee of the awards, Vivien Lau Chiang-chu. The presentation was to take place at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai on March 24.
“There is little we can do as the entire city is still battling the new coronavirus,” Lau said. “The awards presentation involves more than a hundred tables with the presence of all Hong Kong’s leading athletes and other prominent guests. We can’t take the risk of anything happening that may affect our medal chance in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, which is not far away.
“We are now trying to fix a new date in May. Hopefully by that time the high point of the epidemic will have gone and everyone can enjoy a safe environment to recognise the performance of our athletes in 2019.”
Sarah Lee sprints to another honour at Hong Kong Sports Stars Awards
Lau said if the epidemic situation continued and May was still not possible, they might have to move the gala event to another date later in the year, possibly even after the Tokyo Games.
“We will definitely have one this year, but when depends on the epidemic,” she said.
Already a long list of local sports events, such as the annual rugby Sevens, have been called off or postponed under the threat of the coronavirus outbreak, while Hong Kong athletes’ participation in overseas events was also affected. Last week, the badminton team was not able to take part in the Asian Team Championships after they were required to go through a 14-day quarantine by the Philippines organisers despite intervention of the Badminton World Federation.
All the major sports events affected by the coronavirus epidemic
Track cyclist star Sarah Lee Wai-sze is favoured to win the 2019 Sports Stars of the Year after capturing two gold medals at the World Championships in Poland. However, Lee, who is now in Switzerland preparing for the 2020 worlds, only ranks second in the public voting, behind snooker player Ng On-yee. Fencer Vivian Kong Man-wai, the 2019 world number one in the women’s épée, is third. Badminton player Ng Ka-long, who reached the men’s singles semi-finals at the 2019 All England Open, is fourth, ahead of swimmer Siobhan Haughey, who the reached final in the women’s 200 metre freestyle at the world championships. Gymnast Shek Wai-hung, golfer Chan Tsz-ching, karate exponent Grace Lau Mo-shung, disabled table tennis player Ng Mui-wui and tennis player Eudice Chong complete the top 10 list.
Public voting accounts for only 20 per cent of the total votes, with another 20 per cent from local sports media. The judging panel takes the bulk of the voting of 60 per cent.
