Hong Kong hope for at least one Olympic ticket after rowers are unable to secure Tokyo places via qualifying regatta
- Racing for the first time in almost 18 months, the crews manage to reach one final and three B-finals in the Tokyo Bay qualifiers
- Head coach Chris Perry says he is disappointed they could not secure a place on merit and must now rely on how other countries pick their teams
Hong Kong are hoping to have at least one boat at the Tokyo Games after failing to guarantee a ticket at Friday’s Asia-Oceania Olympic Qualification Regatta in Japan.
Unable to race for 18 months because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the men’s lightweight doubles sculls of Chiu Hin-chun and Wong Wai-chun were the best performers – winning their heat but finishing fifth out of six boats in the final.
Four qualifying events were held at the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo Bay – the same venue that will host the Olympic rowing competition – with 16 qualifying places up for grabs. Hosts Japan won all four events, which also featured men’s and women’s singles sculls and women’s lightweight doubles.
However, Japan can only qualify a maximum two boats to the Games according to the rules with the remaining 14 tickets to be allocated to all other countries with a maximum of one to each team. There are five tickets for each of the two singles and three for each of the two doubles and the teams will have two weeks to decide which boat or boats shall represent them at the Games.
“Unfortunately none of our crews got a guaranteed ticket position today,” said head rowing head Chris Perry. “So now it depends on the ranking of each country and what some countries choose when they have two boats with the same ranking.