The future of gymnastics and tennis as elite sports in Hong Kong still hangs in the balance, with both facing the axe in less than three months. Neither sport has met the criteria to remain among the 20 Tier A programmes at the city’s Sports Institute, and could lose the prestigious status at the start of the new financial year on April 1. But with government proposing to review its system for supporting elite athletes, both sports may get a stay of execution for another year, allowing them to remain at the institute’s Fo Tan training complex, where they receive coaching, competition and technical support worth an estimated HK$10 million. Neither sport was represented at last summer’s Olympics in Tokyo, while the city’s tennis players failed to win a medal at the last Asian Games. Both of which are considered benchmarks for remaining elite sports. However, the Home Affairs Bureau has asked the city’s national sports associations for their views on the existing system of support, after the government’s Elite Sports Committee met in late November. Gymnastics and tennis set to lose elite status at Hong Kong Sports Institute And according to Commissioner of Sports Yeung Tak-keung, the government plans to review the criteria for both Tier A and B sports programmes at the institute, although there is uncertainty as to whether that review will be completed before the end of this financial year. “The review will, among other things, looks into the benchmark for Tier A and Tier B sports and we will consider national sports associations’ responses to the questionnaire and decide on the way forward,” Yeung said. Officials at the governing bodies for gymnastics and tennis remain in the dark as to whether they will lose their elite status in April, but a senior sports official said it was unlikely the government would drop them. The official pointed to the strong overall results achieved by Hong Kong athletes at the Tokyo Games, and Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s vow to inject more money into sports in the city. In addition, the official said that with the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou later this year, no one would want to take the blame if gymnast Shek Wai-hung failed to defend his two back-to-back men’s vault gold medals because of a loss of funding. “Hong Kong sport is still rejoicing the success at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and expecting more financial support from the government, but suddenly two Olympic sports are facing the axe. This is against the big picture,” the official, who asked to remain anonymous, said. “With the government’s current review on the elite vote support, it has strong reasons to delay the action until they decide what they want to do in future, may be under a totally new system. Bear in mind there is also the Hangzhou Asian Games later this year. Any policy or measure that will hamper our medal chances will not be welcome.” Gymnastics Association faces battle to retain its tier A status The Gymnastics Association said it had heard nothing about the next support cycle. “We don’t know if we’ll be out or stay, but they should give us a three-month notice if there is any change of our status, but so far nothing,” Albert Ng, the association’s senior sports executive, said. “We understand a review on the elite support is now under way and they may need time to formulate a new policy and that’s why nothing will be done at the moment. We just keep waiting.” Gymnastics failed to make the grade because it has not met the 10-point benchmark based on international results, but the association said there had not been enough international competitions because of the coronavirus pandemic, especially for junior events. It has written to officials to ask for an additional year to met that standard. Tennis did not met the prerequisite for staying at the institute, which it would have done if a player had either qualified for the Olympics or won a medal at the Asian Games or World Championships during a non-Olympic year.