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 was considering rescheduling. He also pointed out that if the current approval is granted, the preparation time would be regarding two months as last year. He questioned why the event might not be held, and believed that the cancellation of the event involved President Tian’s own considerations.
The Hong Kong Marathon originally scheduled to be held in November was cancelled due to insufficient preparation time. Yang Deqiang pointed out in a radio program yesterday that Mr. Tian submitted a revision proposal to the government on the 7th of this month, and the relevant departments have dealt with it as soon as possible. As of last Friday (16th), Mr. Tian said Considering to postpone 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 that he would not consider the postponement and cancel the competition directly. He quoted Mr. Tian as saying that it was too urgent to prepare for the competition following only 2 months, so it was cancelled. However, he questioned that the current time is similar to the time approved two months ago last year. “Why can it be arranged in two months last year, but not in two months this year?” He believed that the cancellation of the event involved Mr. Tian’s own consideration.
Yang Deqiang also said that President Tian initially hoped to increase the number of participants from 18,000 last year to 33,000, and it was only reduced to 25,000 this month. The original Honda President also suggested a “rolling start”, but the authorities were worried that there would be a certain risk of runners taking off their masks following starting and gathering near the starting point. Later, it was suggested to start in groups. Yang stressed that the government has been actively processing applications, not “non-committal” as the outside world said. Mr. Tian did not respond to the incident yesterday.
Hong Kong has no epidemic prevention roadmap to block bids for the event
In addition, the International Dragon Boat Federation approved that the World Dragon Boat Championships originally scheduled to be held in Hong Kong next year will be held in Thailand instead. Chung Chi-lok, chairman of the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Association, said on the radio yesterday that the association has explained to the conference the current “3+4” entry quarantine policy in Hong Kong, and that there is a chance to adjust it to “0+7” in the future, but the government has never had an epidemic prevention policy. The roadmap or timetable makes it unclear whether Hong Kong can host the event. In order to make it as convenient as possible for the athletes, the conference chooses to host the event in other countries.
Chung Chi-lok expressed his regret at the result. The Federation will still send representatives to Thailand to compete, but the Hong Kong athletes will lose the chance to win at home. He worries that if Hong Kong’s anti-epidemic policies remain unchanged, it may not be possible to successfully bid for international sports events in a short period of time. He also said that the Federation will continue to bid for the World Dragon Boat Championships to be held in Hong Kong in 2027, hoping that the event can return to Hong Kong in the future.
Originally published on AM730 https://www.am730.com.hk/local/referring to have helped to postpone the event in February-Yang Deqiang questioned the reason why Mr. Tian canceled the slag horse/339096?utm_source=yahoorss&utm_medium=referral
