Hong Kong Sports Institute ends six-week lockdown as pandemic eases
- Shuttler Angus Ng enjoys novel experience with improvement in skills and techniques
- Table tennis ace Wong Chun-ting wants to see family after staying six weeks in training centre
Athletes overcame their longest ever training camp in a closed environment as the Sports Institute ended a six-week lock down due to the escalation of coronavirus in Hong Kong.
With no local infection cases found over a period of 19 consecutive days, athletes and staff members were free to leave the Fo Tan training centre on Friday, although they still have to observe the government and Institute’s precautionary measures against the spread of the virus.
“It has been a novel experience as I seldom spend the night at the Sports Institute,” said local badminton ace Angus Ng Ka-long, the world No 8. “But I have to stay in the athletes’ hostel after training at the badminton courts over the last six weeks. In fact, our previous longest training camp was about a month during the season break in December and it was not under such an environment.
“But it really helped in terms of consolidating some of your skills and sharpening others as life was simple during this period with no distractions – only badminton. We had to struggle a bit in the beginning under this special environment before we could totally settle in.”
Ng said he brought his own portable gaming device from home so that he could play at night time as they needed some sort of entertainment, but the shuttler still considered himself lucky during the pandemic period.