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The Athletics Federation announced on Friday the cancellation of this year’s Hong Kong marathon, citing delays in government approval, resulting in insufficient preparation time. Sports commissioner Yang Deqiang said yesterday that President Tian is considering rescheduling. He also pointed out that if the current approval is granted, the preparation time would be about two months like last year. He questioned why the event could not be held and believes that the cancellation of the event involved the same considerations as President Tian.
The Hong Kong marathon originally scheduled for November was canceled due to insufficient preparation time. Yang Deqiang pointed out on a radio show yesterday that Mr. Tian submitted a proposal for revision to the government on the 7th of this month and the relevant departments have addressed the matter as soon as possible. As of last Friday (16), Mr. Tian said Considering postponing the competition to February next year, the government also replied that Victoria Park has a schedule in February, but Mr. Tian said on the same day in which he would not have considered the postponement and directly canceled the competition. He quoted Mr. Tian as saying it was too urgent to prepare for the competition after only 2 months, so he was canceled. However, he questioned that the current time is similar to the one approved two months ago last year. “Why can it be organized in two months last year, but not in two months this year?” The consideration of Mr. Tian.
Yang Deqiang also said that President Tian initially hoped to increase the number of attendees from 18,000 last year to 33,000, and it was only reduced to 25,000 this month. The original Honda chairman also suggested an “early start”, but authorities feared there would be some risk that the riders would take off their masks after starting and gathered near the starting point, so it was suggested that they start as a group. Yang stressed that the government actively dealt with the questions, not “non-binding” as the outside world claimed. Mr. Tian did not respond to the incident yesterday.
Hong Kong does not have an anti-epidemic roadmap to block event bidding
Additionally, the International Dragon Boat Federation has approved that the Dragon Boat World Championships originally scheduled for next year in Hong Kong will be held in Thailand instead. Chung Chi-lok, president of the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Association, said on the radio yesterday that the association explained at the conference the current quarantine policy at the “3 + 4” entrance to Hong Kong and that there is an option to adapt it. to “0 + 7” in the future, but the government has never adopted an epidemic prevention policy. The roadmap or schedule does not clarify whether Hong Kong can host the event. To make it as convenient as possible for athletes, the conference chooses to host the event in other countries.
Chung Chi-lok expressed his regret for the result: the Federation will still send representatives to Thailand to compete, but the Hong Kong athletes will lose their chance to win at home. He fears that if Hong Kong’s anti-epidemic policies remain unchanged, it may not be possible to successfully bid on international sporting events in a short period of time. He also said the Federation will continue bidding for the Dragon Boat World Championships to be held in Hong Kong in 2027, hoping the event will return to Hong Kong in the future.
Originally posted on AM730 https://www.am730.com.hk/local/referring for helping to postpone the event to February – Yang Deqiang questioned why Mr. Tian canceled the slag horse / 339096? utm_source = yahoorss & utm_medium = referral
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