An athlete can access funds and facilities if their sport has Tier A*, Tier A or Tier B status at the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI), which delivers elite sport training systems on the government’s behalf.

As things stand, billiard sports – snooker and pool – will be demoted from Tier A on March 31 next year, for not meeting the criterion of inclusion in three Olympic or Asian Games between 2010 and 2030.

Billiard sports has consistently met the other requirement of scoring enough marks for its results under the government’s Elite Vote Support Scheme (EVSS), but it has never been an Olympic sport and was dropped from the past three Asian Games after featuring from 1998 to 2010 inclusive.

Despite that, it was granted a two-year extension to its Tier A status by the government in 2022, since which it has campaigned in vain to be reinstated for the 2026 Asiad in Nagoya. It will be included in the 2030 Games in Doha – too little, too late to prevent cuts for players and coaches in snooker and pool after the present funding period.

Ng, 33, said she would hold on for a couple more years given how close she is to earning a two-year stint on the World Snooker Tour, the main professional circuit for men, which grants places to the best of the growing women’s game.

Winning the next women’s world title or being the highest-ranked player not already on the tour would return her to the circuit after her first spell ended in relegation last year.

“It would be for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons,” she said. “Even if we are to be dropped from the HKSI list, I still want to compete for two more years.”

She added that she would need to seek commercial sponsors to manage that.

“Our monthly subsidies would be cut by 60 per cent and funding for overseas competitions by 80 per cent,” Ng said. “I play 15 to 20 tournaments each year. It could be down to two or three in future.

“We’ll lose the coaches, the snooker hall at the institute and access to the gym. Everything will be gone. I am not optimistic one would still be able to maintain good shape, and the inevitable drop in ranking may mean getting tougher draws in tournaments.”

For Marco Fu Ka-chun, the impact would be “relatively small” after 27 years on the tour and with perhaps only “a year or two” to come before he calls time on his career. But the former world No 5, now ranked 68th, was concerned about the next generation.

“It would impact the development of the sport and the worst scenario could be the disbandment of the Hong Kong team,” he said. “We have a head coach and assistant coaches. We have men’s, women’s and youth teams in both snooker and pool.

“When we can no longer practise at the institute, we will have to do so at snooker clubs outside and that could drastically cut down our time at the table.”

Three-time ranking tournament winner Fu added that he was worried about the academic future of those studying at Lam Tai Fai College, where up-and-coming athletes in the city usually enrol before turning pro in their sport.

“Some of them may not continue on this path even if their dream was to be a professional and represent Hong Kong,” he said. “And this would be happening not because of insufficient results but because of a failure in the system.”

Hong Kong is rare in having such a system for players of cue sports, who in most countries practise at snooker clubs and support themselves.

Wallace Wong Kwan-chun, who finished third at the World Under-17 Championship last July, is a Lam Tai Fai student and aims to keep pursuing his dream of playing professionally.

“I am giving myself six years and will leave if I can’t be where I want to be,” the 17-year-old said. “I’m talking about being among the world No 16 to 64 steadily.

“I always wanted to be like Fu, playing on the world stage … but if we’re to get the boot then the financial realities would make it difficult to continue.”

Players from mainland China face financial reality by basing themselves in the UK, where many of the leading tournaments take place. In most cases, they live together and practise at Chinese-run academies, such as those of Victoria Shi and Ding Junhui, both in Sheffield.

Hong Kong players, though, continue to base themselves largely in their hometown.

Wong’s fellow Lam Tai Fai students include Ayden Wan Kwok-ho and Derek Pang Kai-nam, both 15.

“I believe there will be a huge loss of young players following the demotion [to Tier B],” Ayden’s father Wan Wah-chung said. “The players’ passion would diminish if they had to make money to support their career.”

Ayden Wan, who switched from snooker to pool this year, said he sees himself playing “a lot less” if billiard sports loses elite status next year.

“I probably would see it as just a game, a pastime,” he said. “The mentality would be different.”

Fu, who came to prominence before getting Tier A funding, recalled there was a succession problem in Hong Kong snooker about two decades ago and said HKSI resources had helped produce more players. None, though, has reached his heights in the men’s game.

“If those subsidies were to be withdrawn, the fault would reappear,” the 46-year-old said. “Imagine those behind us – if they no longer have the subsidies, it’s almost impossible. I hope I’m wrong, but I think the worst outcome is that they will not play any more.”

Players from other countries and regions play on, in most cases without support from their governments. Since 2022, the pro tour has also guaranteed each player a minimum payment of £20,000 (HK$204,000) per season to offer security and ease financial strain.

Two Hong Kong-based players, 25-year-old Cheung Ka-wai and Wang Yuchen, 27, this year earned promotion to the tour for the next two seasons.

Wang, then representing China, had a previous stint on the tour from 2016 to 2018 before being relegated. Cheung has had success at amateur level, having won the World Under-18 Championship and been an Asian Under-21 Championship and World Amateur Championship finalist.

Fu, who like Ng was relegated in 2023, will join Cheung and Wang on the circuit after receiving a wild card invitation to continue. He said a snooker player could stay competitive for up to two decades, but the first two years were crucial to any young career.

Hongkongers may soon have to sink or swim on their results alone, but Ng questioned whether a system and criteria designed over a decade ago were still suitable.

“Should elite sports come only from the Olympics or Asian Games?” she asked. “We scored full marks under EVSS but we are still bound to leave?

“We are always seeking ways to enhance Hong Kong’s international reputation. Ronnie O’Sullivan and other pro players have said this city is suitable to host international snooker events, and we had a world-record crowd at the Hong Kong Masters in 2022. So why give up now?

“The Asian Games is a big event, but world championships and ranking tournaments are big to us. I think [policymakers] should listen more.”

Ng would “probably not” tell any future child of hers to be an athlete, favouring the traditional route of studying hard and finding a decent job.

There is a little more than seven months until the funding verdict is confirmed. As the players see it, the ball is not on the snooker table but in the government’s hands.