Olympics in 2028 is target for Hong Kong as city hosts global lacrosse event
- Women’s U20 Championship ‘will raise awareness’ of the sport, chairman of local governing body says as it eyes qualifiers for LA Games
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Hong Kong’s hosting of the World Lacrosse Women’s U20 Championship can help attract players before the sport joins the Olympics in 2028, the chairman of the local association said as the event began on Thursday.
Featuring 20 teams from around the world, including Hong Kong, the 10-day tournament is the latest lacrosse competition to take place in the city after it last year staged the Super Sixes, which will return this December.
It has been awarded HK$6 million in direct funding and a HK$6 million fund-matching grant under the “M” Mark scheme, through which the government supports designated flagship events.
“Hosting such tournaments in Hong Kong will raise awareness of lacrosse in the city,” said Raymond Fong Kong, chairman of the Hong Kong, China Lacrosse Association. “It is also a great opportunity for our players to play against the world elites.
“An ‘M’ Mark event of such world-class calibre will raise the profile of Hong Kong as a world city, too.”
Fong said he hoped the player pool would expand as Hong Kong became a regular host of international lacrosse.
“There are some decent players from our youth systems, but we also want to attract those playing and studying overseas to reach out to us,” he said. “The more good players we have, the better chance our team have.
“We have great support from the government already, but if we could have more resources, we can better prepare for the qualifiers for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.”
For Thursday’s opening ceremony and Hong Kong’s first match, a win over Jamaica, the crowd at Mong Kok Stadium – one of four venues being used – outnumbered the average 576 attendance of a local Premier League football match. Tickets were available from HK$160 for a day pass or HK$950 for a 10-day pass.
Gemini Fan Tak-kwan, head coach of the Hong Kong women’s team, spoke about the importance of staging the quadrennial competition.
“It feels like a dream come true to have it on home soil,” she said. “The younger generation of players are used to watching the top teams play online, but they can now come and watch the matches. It might just inspire them to think they could be playing at the next one.”
In the stands was Joe Tsai, co-founder and chairman of Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post.
Tsai, who is owner of the San Diego Seals and the Las Vegas Desert Dogs, teams in North America’s professional National Lacrosse League, said Hong Kong was now taking lacrosse very seriously.
“It’s absolutely important for Hong Kong to host this tournament, because I don’t think Hong Kong hosts a lot of international sporting events,” he said. “We have the rugby Sevens, but that’s what people remember, and I hope Hong Kong can build a tradition of being a global sports venue, of hosting these world tournaments.
“We have teams from around the world and I just think this allows people from all over the world to come [here] to have a better understanding of what’s going on in Hong Kong.”
Tsai said he would love to see Hong Kong send a team to the Olympics, where sixes – a shorter, six-a-side form of the game – will be played, as opposed to the 11-a-side traditional lacrosse on display in the current tournament.
“We need to make sure the Hong Kong programme has a dedicated effort for the Olympics,” Tsai said. “We need to have dedicated coaching staff and the resources to make sure Hong Kong can field a team.
“[Current success for Hong Kong] is all individual, we’re talking about fencing, swimming. I would feel very proud if we can get a team sport from Hong Kong into the Olympics.”
