South China Morning Pos / Sport

1. ‘Hong Kong changed my life’: netball star’s journey from South Africa to city team

   She went to a school in South Africa where the motto read “Kyk Ver”, which translated into English means “look far”, but Zanne-Marie Pienaar came to Hong Kong in 2022 thinking short term. “I thought I’d stay a year then go back, but Hong Kong changed my life,” Pienaar said. If she has returned to thinking just 12 months ahead, then that is understandable. Pienaar is a colossal figure, both literally and metaphorically, for the Hong Kong women’s team that on Friday thrillingly beat Malaysia in...

2. Kowloon City eye move to Kai Tak with ambitions to attract new audience, build brand

   Aston Villa were said to have had their noses knocked out of joint when they had to train at Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground last week, while Liverpool were not particularly enamoured when fans could peer into the exposed venue to watch them practice 12 months ago. Moreover, the 5,000-capacity arena, dwarfed by the adjacent Kai Tak Stadium, has proved a hard sell locally, with no tenant obtained since it opened in March last year. Kitchee, the Hong Kong Premier League champions, understandably...

3. Japan’s young rugby team gain ‘great experience’ despite heavy loss to Australia

   Japan coach Eddie Jones said his young team must learn to keep their focus for 90 minutes but should not become despondent after collapsing in the second-half against Australia on Saturday. The visitors went in to the break trailing just 21-17 after an even first-half in Townsville but then leaked 35 unanswered points to crash 56-17. It followed a narrow 35-32 defeat against Les Kiss’s team in Osaka last week. “We showed we can do it for 40 minutes. You know, we’ve played two good halves of...

4. Business is not a solo sport, so why don’t we teach our children how to play together?

   I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t part of a team. Growing up in Canada, organised sport wasn’t something I did after school; it was simply part of life. From my early school days, I played basketball, volleyball, football and softball, eventually earning a basketball scholarship before completing a degree in sport and leisure management at the University of British Columbia. My passion for team sport didn’t end after university. After arriving in Hong Kong, I went on to coach basketball,...

5. As flag football grows in China, Hong Kong pushes to join the fun with NFL stars

   Trying to carve out space in a city where team sports are dominated by rugby and football is not an easy task, so having the shiny new toy of the Olympic movement and an association with the richest league in the world helps. Flag football may yet prove to be a flash in the IOC’s pan, with its participation in Los Angeles in 2028 a one-off in the same way breaking was in Paris two years ago, but there is ample evidence to suggest otherwise and if its popularity in mainland China is anything to...

6. Hong Kong’s women make netball history, qualify for first World Cup since 2003

   It’s been 23 years since Hong Kong’s women last played at a Netball World Cup, they will be heading back to the sport’s biggest tournament next year and may yet go as champions of Asia. On Saturday, only Singapore will stand between them and a first regional title since 1993; no wonder team manager Connie Wong struggled to contain her pride after a 51-47 win over Malaysia at Kai Tak Arena. Wong has done more than most to get the players to this point, bringing the hopes and dreams of a...

7. South Korea players wilt in punishing summer heat, push for shift in K League season

   South Korea’s Pro Footballers Association is calling on the K League to overhaul the domestic season to avoid playing during the height of summer, as local temperatures reached record highs in August. “The K League must transition to the Fall-Spring schedule to protect players from the worsening climate crisis and punishing summer heat,” the KPFA said in a statement this week, “and to maintain the league’s leadership within Asia and its global competitiveness.” Earlier this month, the...

8. ‘I want to be Eala’: Philippine star sparks tennis boom at home, but court time at a premium

   On a Manila court made of crushed seashells, an earnest four-year-old sends a forehand sailing wide – one of dozens of children aiming to follow in the footsteps of the Philippines’ first home-grown tennis sensation, Alexandra Eala. The 21-year-old’s rise has sparked a rush of interest in a sport typically seen as the preserve of the elite in a country best known for its love of basketball, boxing and cockfighting. Racquet sales are up and scoring one of the few available playing venues has...

9. After the LIV golden years, it’s back to the future for Hong Kong Open and Asian Tour

   The Link Hong Kong Open has seen plenty of changes in the 67 years of its existence, from the founding of Ping in 1959 to the balata balls of the 1980s and the crushing distance of the modern pro, and yet it may be the past four years that have involved the most upheaval. Not known as a sport that typically embraces the new – rapid technological advancement aside – the city’s oldest international sporting event has been at the heart of the divisions that have rippled through the game since LIV...

10. From English Premier League to Hong Kong: new Southern star’s ‘surviving on other side of world’

    After swapping the English Premier League for its Hong Kong equivalent, Balraj Landa is up for the challenge of “surviving by myself on the other side of the world”. Released by AFC Bournemouth in February, Landa has joined Southern for the new campaign, via stints with non-league sides Salisbury City and Dorchester Town. Alerted to the possibility of a move by Zesh Rehman, the ex-Fulham defender and former player-manager of Southern, Landa said the “decision to come was a no-brainer”. “My first...

11. Arab federations publicly back Infantino, affirm ‘confidence in his leadership’

    Another crack appeared in the Asian Football Confederation’s stance against Gianni Infantino on Thursday, when the heads of six Arab national associations threw their support behind the embattled Fifa president. Among those publicly supporting the game’s top official after his failed plan to sell off the World Cup plunged football into crisis, were 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar and 2030 co-hosts Morocco. Infantino, who is seeking re-election next year, has faced open revolt after three...

12. Darts bosses eye Hong Kong for masters stop, Littler, Humphries to take on Asia’s best

    Luke Littler, Luke Humphries and some of the world’s best darts players could be heading to Hong Kong next year, with promoters hoping to stage a masters tournament in Kai Tak Arena. Officials from the Professional Darts Corporation toured the 10,000-seat venue this week and were said to be “very keen to host an event” at the end of August 2027. The tournament, which would take place on the weekend after the Australian Dart Masters, would see eight of the world’s top 10 take on eight of Asia’s...

13. ‘Age is not a limit’ for swimmer Haughey who is enjoying senior role in Hong Kong team

    Showing little inclination to wind down, and talking enthusiastically about the looming Asian Games and Swimming World Cup, Siobhan Haughey is looking and sounding like an athlete who fancies competing in a fourth Olympics. It is 10 years ago this week that a very green Haughey raced in her first Games in Rio de Janeiro, lowering the Hong Kong record in her 200m freestyle heat but not progressing beyond the semi-finals. “I was 18 and very nervous,” she has recalled. “I was so focused on the race...

14. ‘Traitors in the gymnastics team’: Chinese fans hit out at squad selection for Asian Games

    Chinese gymnasts were the latest athletes in the firing line of disgruntled fan groups after the Gymnastics Administrative Centre announced the team for next month’s Asian Games. What started as a routine announcement of the gymnastics team for the coming Games in Japan spiralled into an online campaign of harassment and conspiracy theories, forcing sports officials to threaten legal action against fans. The episode underscores China’s ongoing struggle to manage an increasingly aggressive,...

15. The Hong Kong fencer aiming to make 2028 Los Angeles Olympics – with New Zealand

    The name printed on the back of Ruby Chan Ho-ting’s fencing jacket when she competed at the recent World Championships seemed entirely in keeping with holding the tournament in Hong Kong, it was the country code below that appeared out of place. Rather than the expected HKG, it was the NZL of New Zealand that was printed proudly between her shoulder blades – a fitting image for an athlete whose two homes had led to her being one of the few women foilists in her adopted country with a world...

16. Hong Kong football blow as technical director quits after signing new 2-year deal

    Local football chiefs have been dealt a hammer blow after John Morling quit his post as technical director of The Football Association of Hong Kong, China (HKFA) for a new role in the United Arab Emirates. Morling recently signed a new two-year HKFA deal, but the Englishman has now chosen to join a UAE football revolution aimed at ending the country’s four-decade wait to reach the World Cup finals. On Morling’s watch, the HKFA launched an under-22 Premier League, Hong Kong hosted its inaugural...

17. Australia host Bangladesh in Darwin and Mackay for first winter Tests in 22 years

    Australia begin ⁠a massive year of Test cricket in unusual surrounds on Thursday, hosting Bangladesh for the first time since 2003 in a two-match series in the country’s tropical north. With stadiums further south occupied by Australian rules football, Darwin’s Marrara Oval will stage its first Test since 2004 before the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay becomes the nation’s 12th Test venue on August 22. Unlike the festive atmosphere of an ‌Australian home summer, the country’s first winter...

18. Call of the ocean: Hong Kong freediver relishes testing human limits with one breath

    The call of the ocean has always reached out to Hong Kong freediver Michael Sung Wai-yin, who is now one of the city’s best underwater divers, a sport he also views as a career. Raised in Wan Chai, Sung discovered the ocean at a young age when his mother, Grace Kwok, would take him to Deep Water Bay as a 10-month-old where she would swim while he floated alongside her. These early experiences, and playing water polo in high school, helped to spark his love of the aquatic realm. But it wasn’t...

19. Doctors ignored ‘warning signs’ before Maradona’s death, court hears

    Diego Maradona showed “warning signs” that went unheeded during the home hospitalisation leading up to his death in 2020, a witness on Tuesday told the trial examining the Argentine football legend’s demise. Seven healthcare professionals have been on trial since mid-April in Argentina for potential negligence that may have contributed to his death. The World Cup winner died of heart failure and acute pulmonary oedema – a condition where fluid accumulates in the lungs – two weeks after...

20. No monkey business: Indian badminton organisers deploy men to mimic primates at stadium

    Badminton officials in India were forced to bring in monkey whisperers ahead of an international tournament as the country strives to boost its credibility before hosting the 2030 Commonwealth Games and bidding for the 2036 Olympics. The unusual measure was introduced after monkeys invaded the stands during the India Open earlier this year at the same stadium in New Delhi, leaving the Badminton Association of India (BAI) red-faced. The event was also disrupted by pigeons leaving droppings on the...