Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Hong Kong sport facing 2-week shutdown as officials tighten Covid-19 controls

Hong Kong sport facing 2-week shutdown as officials tighten Covid-19 controls

Governing bodies left scrambling to rearrange matches with preparations for overseas competitions also hit.

The Hong Kong government’s decision to reimpose some of its toughest Covid-19 controls, as the city braces for a fifth wave of infections, has left sport associations scrambling to rearrange fixtures and save seasons.

Top-flight football, rugby and cricket have all been affected, while the city’s athletics association’s plan to send athletes to next month’s 10th Asian Indoor Championships has been thrown into disarray after the government announced on Wednesday that all sports venues must shut for two weeks.

While the raft of closures, which has also hit gyms and swimming pools, do not come into force until Friday, several governing bodies took immediate action to halt training sessions, or hold games behind closed doors.

The semi-finals and final for the grand championship of the Dettol Women’s Premiership have had to be postponed because of the shutdown.


Officials also ordered the Jockey Club to shut the public out of Wednesday night’s Happy Valley race meeting, the first time that has happened since March.

“Due to the latest Covid-19 situation in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Jockey Club has just been instructed by the HKSAR Government that we have to substantially reduce the number of attendance to the race meeting tonight [January 5, 2022],” the Jockey Club said in a statement.

Several of the city’s representative teams were in the midst of preparing for international competitions in February, and the Association of Athletics Affiliates had planned a preseason trial at Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground on Sunday ahead of selecting its squad for the indoor championships in Kazakhstan, which take place from February 11 to 13.

“Some of the events would have used the trial as selection for the indoor meet and the deadline for registration is two days later on Tuesday,” Simon Yeung Sai-mo, the selection committee’s chairman, said. “It is impossible to have another event for selection because of the time restriction, and we will have to find another method.”

HKFA chairman Pui Kwan-kay said there was little the governing body could do.


While the association can use local rankings for track events such as the 100, 200 and 400 metres, the 60m hurdles and 60m sprint had been relying on this weekend’s event.

Vera Lui Lai-yiu won a gold medal in the women’s 60m hurdles at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, and had already entered Sunday’s race to try to qualify for Almaty, while women’s sprinters such as Leung Wing-hei, Chan Pui-kei, Leung Kwan-yi and Lam Wing-tung will have to compete for two spots available for Hong Kong at the indoor event.

The Hong Kong Football Association, meanwhile, has been forced to suspend local matches for a fourth time during the pandemic, with five matches scheduled to be played over the next nine days. The FA said that it had already taken the decision to play Wednesday night’s Sapling Cup match between RCFC and Lee Man at Mong Kok Stadium without spectators.

Pui Kwan-kay, the FA chairman, said there was little they could do under the circumstances, but hoped the season could be saved.

“We still want to finish the season in May as scheduled and will try our best to fix these suspended matches back into the existing fixture list, but if the two-week suspension is going to be extended, we face a big problem,” Pui said.

“Local football has been hit severely in all departments over the past two years and we hope this ‘dark ages’ can be got rid of as soon as possible.”

Like their athletics counterparts, Hong Kong’s women’s rugby players are beginning their preparations to travel overseas, with a game against Kazakhstan in Dubai next month part of their bid to qualify for the World Cup later this year.

The Dettol Women’s Premiership was approaching a conclusion over the next two weeks, with the grand championship semi-finals scheduled for this Saturday, and the final the following weekend. Those have now been scrapped, as have all community league matches.

In a statement on Wednesday, Robbie McRobbie, the Hong Kong Rugby Union’s CEO, said the governing body had suspended all activities in line with the government’s decision.

“Whilst the venue closures technically don’t commence until midnight on Thursday, the clear intention from the government is to shut down group activities as soon as practicable, and we therefore advise clubs to cancel any training they may have had planned for tomorrow evening,” McRobbie said.

“We will review the Dettol Women’s Premiership Grand Championship semi-finals and finals schedule and will announce revised schedules as soon as practicable, along with the Winter Touch Finals and the Tertiary 7s Tournament.”

Cricket Hong Kong said it would make a decision on Thursday about the games that have had to be postponed.


Cricket Hong Kong, which has completed most of its high-performance matches took a similar stance, but the closure does mean the women’s T20 match between Jade Jets and Bauhinia Stars scheduled for January 16 has been cancelled.

CHK said it supported the government’s efforts “to curtail the spread of the coronavirus”, and would make an announcement later on games scheduled over the next two weeks.

Elsewhere, the Hong Kong Basketball Association said it would suspend local matches from Friday for two weeks, while the A1 Division games planned for Wednesday and Thursday at Southorn Stadium would take place behind closed doors.

The Hong Kong Cyclothon, which was scheduled for a week on Saturday has also been axed, the Tourism Board said.

Announcing the move, officials said they would continue to “closely monitor the situation and decide on a future event date”.

“The HKTB will inform the participants of the latest arrangements,” the board said in a statement.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
United States Sells Luxury Yacht Amadea, Valued at Approximately $325 Million, in First Sale of a Seized Russian Yacht Since the Invasion of Ukraine
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Germany Seeks Taliban Deal to Deport Afghan Migrants
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
×