Athletics will resume their first senior competition in seven months at Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground this weekend, with easing of the pandemic situation and the need for a final check-up of athletes ahead of the Asian Games. With the government granting an exemption for the 2022 Trial, a two-day event originally scheduled in January but pushed back after the city’s fifth wave, athletes can return to the track and field after a long break. Organisers, however, must still follow strict safety measures to contain any potential spread of the Covid-19. “We are happy to be back and have scheduled four meets from this weekend to late May before we finalise the list of players submitted to the Olympic Committee for the forthcoming Asian Games,” said Association of Athletics Affiliates chairman Kwan Kee. “Although many of our top athletes are involved in overseas training camps to strive for more quality competitions, we need to provide chances to those who decide to stay in Hong Kong as we haven’t had any competition for a long time.” The Hong Kong Athletics Series 1, 2, 3 will follow the Trial before the HKAAA finalises their squad for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games in September. Under safety measures, athletes must wear masks at all times until they start their race. The start of 100 metres and 100m hurdles will require an open lane in the middle to meet social distancing requirements. No gathering of athletes will be allowed before their race. Other standard measures such as vaccine pass, use of the LeaveHomeSafe app, temperature check and hand sanitising will be required. The men’s and women’s 100 metres will be the highlight of the Trial as a number of sprinters will be competing for the two places of the event at the Asian Games and the five slots for the relay. Hong Kong athletics to bring back key events as city reopens Shak Kam-ching and Lee Hong-kit will be among the favourites in the men’s while Leung Kwan-yi and Chan Pui-kei will fight for the women’s sprinting crown. In the women’s high jump, although top athletes Cecilia Yeung Man-wai and Tiffany Tang Yi-ching are both in Portugal, the competition among Cheung Ching-laam, Chow Kwan-wing and Chung Wai-yan will also be highly competitive. Meanwhile, Vera Lui Lai-yiu almost missed her first race in Brazil after their flight to Sao Paulo was delayed for a day. They only arrived at the airport on Wednesday morning before starting her 100 metre hurdles race in the afternoon, where Lui finished seventh place with a time of 13.85 seconds. She will race again on Monday in a more important continental bronze tour.