Hong Kong must act to stop athletics talent drain, says former record holder
Alan Cheung, who broke the city 110m hurdles record in 1996, then quit the sport, wants more government backing for track and field
Former record-breaking hurdler Alan Cheung believes the city’s best athletics talent will continue slipping through the cracks until the sport becomes a viable career.
Cheung, who claimed double hurdles success at the weekend’s Hong Kong Masters Athletics Championships (HKMAC), broke the city 110 metres hurdles record, aged 21, in 1996, then promptly quit to study in the USA.
“I didn’t see much future in being an athlete,” Cheung, who is now 51, said. “If I had continued I might have reached a higher level, but if you carry on until 30 it’s hard to find a job afterwards, and you’re too old to begin a new career.
“There has to be more of a subsidy for the most talented athletes; it’s an insecure profession.”
The 10th HKMAC attracted hundreds of competitors and spectators to Wan Chai Sports Ground and served as testament to the popularity of track and field in Hong Kong.
On the international stage, however, the city’s athletes have been struggling. The best of a poor National Games showing was Anson Cheung Wang-fun’s fifth in the men’s 110m hurdles. Tiffany Yue Nga-yan, in the long jump, was the only other Hongkonger to qualify for a final. The city’s last China Games athletics medal came in 2005.