Hong Kong Sports Stars Awards: who shone brightest at Asian Games – gold-medal rugby sevens team or history-making footballers?
- Men’s rugby sevens team claimed gold for the second Games in a row and are regular winners of the annual Sports Stars team sport award
- But the city’s footballers will rival them for the prize after their best ever Asiad result, achieved via a shock victory over Iran
Sports fans will soon be invited to decide whether Hong Kong’s men’s football team or their rugby sevens counterparts had the more stellar year, with nominations opening on Tuesday for the Hong Kong Sports Stars Awards.
Those two squads are expected to vie for the team award after their respective Asian Games heroics: a first-ever Asiad semi-final for the round-ball side, and a repeat gold medal for their oval-ball equivalents.
A month-long nomination period for sports associations runs to January 11, with the public able to vote the following month for those put forward before the winners are crowned on April 24 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Rugby player Cado Lee Ka-to said at the awards’ launch on Monday that he considered the footballers “healthy competition” but believed he and his teammates would be worthy winners again.
The sevens side have won the award 11 times since 2008, being denied only three times in that period – with the men’s football team twice winning it ahead of them, in 2009 and 2015.
“Despite not focusing on awards, it felt great to win year after year and know that we’re still the most favourite [ball sports] team,” Lee said.