Hong Kong celebrity Alex Fong Lik-sun has accused swimming bosses of ignoring some of the city’s top young talent because they don’t belong to the right clubs.
Fong, a predecessor to Hong Kong’s Olympics-bound Siobhan Haughey when he represented the city at the Sydney Games in 2000, took to social media to blast officials he said had blocked a nine-year-old from racing in certain events.
According to Fong, he “didn’t swim as fast as the boy at his age”, but because the nine-year-old belongs to the actor and singer’s swimming academy and not a top-tier club, he was prevented from challenging his peers at the Hong Kong Age Group Short Course Swimming Championships.
Ronnie Wong Man-chiu, president of the Hong Kong China Swimming Association, denied that accusation and told the Post the governing body could not give “special treatment” to one club outside its system.
“Can [Fong] guarantee the young boy will be good?” he said. “The growth and improvement of a swimmer will not be hampered by missing just one competition, because there are always other competitions available.
“We cannot write to the Olympic Council of Asia and ask to participate at the Asian Games if we do not have a qualified swimmer.”
But whereas the boy reportedly met the qualification time for the 100 metres freestyle at the championships in February, no such mark existed for last year’s Games in Hangzhou, where 37 swimmers – 18 women and 19 men – represented Hong Kong.
The nine-year-old reportedly swam the 100m in one minute and eight seconds earlier this year, a time that would have placed him in the top six at the championships, which had a qualifying time of 1:13.03 for the boys’ 10-and-under category.
Fong’s academy is listed as a competition member club, the bottom level of the association’s three-tier system. Above that are observer clubs and full members.
The association’s rules state that the lowest-ranked clubs are not allowed to take part in certain competitions, including age-group championships.
“I believe all swimmers who meet the standard should have the right to join the championship, let alone the swimmer clocked the standard time in a competition organised by the association,” an angry Fong wrote in a lengthy Facebook post.
“Swimming should be a sport based on performance, rather than the category of the swim club a swimmer belongs to,” Fong said. “For this reason, I suggest that the association should consider a ‘way out’ for swimmers coming from these swim clubs.
“For children’s development, every year is very important.”
Fong said he had been actively trying to discuss the matter with the association “for months” but they had refused to respond.
The Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China said it was “monitoring” the situation and had contacted the swimming association to discuss the matter.
“We will actively follow up and hope that all stakeholders can meet and discuss as soon as possible to reach a solution to the problem,” its statement read.
However, a source told the Post there had been attempts to arrange a meeting between the committee, the governing body and Fong, but “the swimming association did not respond actively to the proposal”.