Hong Kong tennis chief hails city’s status on ATP and WTA tours, says no need to move events to Kai Tak Sports Park
- New HKCTA president Michael Cheng says hosting men’s and women’s elite events ‘a significant achievement’ that puts it alongside Tokyo and Beijing
- Cheng says Victoria Park Stadium only needs ‘minor tweaks and upgrades’ to keep it up to standard
Hong Kong’s new tennis boss has walked back comments made by his predecessor over the state of the city’s Victoria Park Stadium, and said players and officials had praised the venue of this week’s ATP Tour event.
Michael Cheng Ming-git, who became president of the city’s tennis association last month, believed only a few changes needed to be made to the home of this week’s Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open to ensure it remained usable.
He also said the city should be proud to be one of only three in the region, alongside Tokyo and Beijing, that staged an ATP and WTA event in the same calendar year.
It was, Cheng said, “a significant achievement” putting Hong Kong alongside two capitals, and helping to raise it’s profile as a world city.
Questions have been raised about the venue, however, and last month, outgoing president Philip Mok Kwan-yat, suggested the sport should consider moving its elite events to Kai Tak Sports Park, when it was finally finished.
The ATP Tour has returned to the Causeway Bay facility for the first time since 2002, and Cheng said he expected to receive a “positive report” from officials who “like what they have seen”.